i 


FROM -THE- LIBRARY- OF- 
A.  W,   Ryder 


'6d 


QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

(The  Ermine  Portrait.) 

After  the  Painting  by  Zucchero,  Hatfield  House,  EnglaPJU 


THE  LIFE  OF 

QUEEN  ELIZABETH 

By  Edward  Spencer  Beesly 


Emeritus  Professor  of  History  in  University 
College,  London 


EDITED  WITH    NOTES 

By  HENEY  KETCHAM 


WITH    ILLUSTRATIONS 


Sine  ira  et  studis  quorum  causas  procul  habeo. 

Tacitus,  Ann.  II.,. I. 


A.  L.  BURT  COMPANY,     ^     ^     J^     J^ 

^      j^      j^      PUBLISHERS,  NEW  YORK 


34 


Copyright,  1903, 
By  E.  a.  BRAINERD, 


^o-vw 


•W«_V:)>^, 


CONTENTS. 


P10B 

CHAPTER  L 
Early  Life,  1533-1558 1 


CHAPTER  n. 
The  Change  of  Religion,  1559 8 

CHAPTER  HI. 
Foreign  Relations,  1559-1563 23 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Elizabeth  and  Mary  Stuart,  1559-1568 48 

CHAPTER  V. 
Aristocratic  Plots,  1568-1573 98 

CHAPTER  VI. 
Foreign  Affairs,  1572-1583 126 

CHAPTER  VII. 
The  Papal  Attack,  1570-1583 160 

iU 


M29301 


iv  CONTENTS. 

PAOE 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Protectorate  op  the  Netherlands,  1584-1586 195 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Execution  of  tele  Queen  of  Scots  :  1584-1587 219 

CHAPTER  X. 
War  WITH  Spain,  1587-1603 236 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Domestic  Affairs,  1588-1601. 266 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Last  Years  AND  Death,  1601-1603 290 

APPENDIX. 

A.— Sessions  op  Parliament  in  the  Reign  of  Elizabeth  305 
B.— Principal  Howards  Contemporaries  op  Elizabeth  306 
C— Principal  Boleyn  Relations  of  Elizabeth 307 


QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTEE  L 

EARLY  LIFE  :  1533-1558. 

I  HAVE  to  deal,  under  strict  limitations  of  space, 
with  a  long  life,  almost  the  whole  of  its  adult  period 
passed  in  the  exercise  of  sovereignty — a  life  which 
is  in  effect  the  history  of  England  during  forty-five 
5'^ears,  abounding  at  the  same  time  in  personal  inter- 
est, and  the  subject,  both  in  its  public  and  private 
aspect,  of  fierce  and  probably  interminable  contro- 
versies. Evidently  a  bird's-eye  view  is  all  that  can 
be  attempted;  and  the  most  important  episodes 
alone  can  be  selected  for  consideration. 

The  daughter  of  Henry  YIII.  and  Anne  Boleyn 
was  born  on  September  6,  1533.  Anne  was  niece 
of  Thomas,  third  Duke  of  Norfork,  and  all  the  great 
Howard  kinsmen  attended  at  the  baptism  four  days 
afterwards.    Elizabeth  was  two  years   and  eight 


2  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

months  old  when  her  mother  was  beheaded,  and  she 
herself  was  declared  illegitimate  by  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment. It  is  not  recorded  that  in  after  years  she 
expressed  any  opinion  about  her  mother  or  ever 
mentioned  her  name.  She  never  took  any  steps  to 
get  the  Act  of  attainder  repealed  ;  but  perhaps  she 
indirectly  showed  her  belief  in  Anne's  innocence  by 
raising  the  son  of  Korris,  her  alleged  paramour,  to 
the  peerage,  and  by  the  great  favor  she  always 
showed  to  his  family.* 

During  her  father's  life  Elizabeth  lived  chiefly  at 
Hatfield  with  her  brother  Edward,  under  a  gover- 
ness. Henry  had  been  empowered  by  Parliament 
in  1536  to  settle  the  succession  by  his  will.  In  1644 
he  caused  an  Act  to  be  passed  placing  Mary  and 
Elizabeth  next  in  order  of  succession  after  Edward. 
By  his  will,  made  a  few  days  before  his  death, 
he  repeated  the  provisions  of  the  Act  of  1544, 
and  placed  next  to  Elizabeth  the  daughters  of  his 
younger  sister,  the  Duchess  of  Suffolk,  tacitly  pass- 
ing over  his  elder  sister,  the  Queen  of  Scotland. 

After  her  father's  death  (Jan,  1547)  Elizabeth, 

then  a  girl  of  thirteen,  went  to  reside  with  the 

Queen  Dowager  Catherine,  who  had  not  been  many 

*  The  name  of  Henry  Norris  was  connected  with  the  al- 
leged scandals  concerning  Anne  Boleyn.  It  was  his  son,  Sir 
Henry  Norris,  Baron  of  Rycote,  to  whom  Elizabeth  gave 
many  and  great  honors. 


EARLY  LIFE  :  1533-1558.  3 

weeks  a  widow  before  she  married  her  old  lover 
Thomas  Seymour,  the  Lord  Admiral,  brother  of  the 
Protector  Somerset,  described  as  "  fierce  in  courage, 
courtly  in  fashion,  in  personage  stately,  in  voice 
magnificent,  but  somewhat  empty  of  matter."  The 
romping  that  soon  began  to  go  on  between  this 
dangerous  man  and  Elizabeth  was  of  such  a  nature 
that  early  in  the  next  year  Catherine  found  it  neces- 
sary to  send  her  away  somewhat  abruptly.  From 
that  time  she  resided  chiefly  at  Hatfield. 

In  August,  1548,  Catherine  died,  and  the  Admiral 
at  once  formed  the  project  of  marrying  Elizabeth. 
This  and  other  ambitious  designs  brought  him  to 
the  scaffold  (March,  1549).  It  does  not  appear  that 
Elizabeth  saw  or  directly  corresponded  with  him 
after  he  was  a  widower.  But  she  listened  to  his 
messages,  and  dropped  remarks  of  an  encouraging 
kind  which  she  meant  to  be  repeated  to  him.  She 
knew  perfectly  well  that  the  marriage  would  not 
be  permitted.  She  was  only  flirting  with  a  man  old 
enough  to  be  her  father  just  as  she  afterwards 
flirted  with  men  young  enough  to  be  her  sons.  We 
already  get  a  glimpse  of  the  utter  absence  both  of 
delicacy  and  depth  of  feeling  which  characterized 
her  through  life.  "When  she  heard  of  the  Admiral's 
execution  she  simply  remarked,  "  This  day  died 
a  man  with  much  wit  and  very  little  judgment." 


4  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

|With  Elizabeth  the  heart  never  really  spoke,  and  if 
|he  senses  did,  she  had  them  under  perfect  control. 
And  this  was  why  she  never  loved  or  was  loved,  and 
never  has  been  or  will  be  regarded  with  enthusiasm 
by  either  man  or  woman.  For  some  time  after  this 
scandal  she  was  evidently  somewhat  under  a  cloud. 
She  lived  at  her  manor-houses  of  Ashridge,  Enfield, 
and  Hatfield,  diligently  pursuing  her  studies  under 
the  celebrated  scholar  Ascham.* 

When  Edward  died  (July  6,  1553)  Elizabeth  was 
nearly  twenty.  Although  Mary's  cause  was  her 
own,  she  remained  carefully  neutral  during  the 
short  queenship  of  Jane.  On  its  collapse  she  hast- 
ened to  congratulate  her  sister,  and  rode  by  her 
side  when  she  made  her  entry  into  London.  During 
the  early  part  of  Mary's  reign  her  life  hung  by  a 
thread.  The  slightest  indiscretion  would  have  been 
fatal  to  her.  "Wyatt's  insurrection  was  made  avow- 
edly in  her  favor.f  But  neither  to  that  nor  any 
other  conspiracy  did  she  extend  the  smallest  encour- 
agement. Her  prudent  and  blameless  conduct  gave 
her  the  more  right  in  after  years  to  deal  severely 

*  Roger  Ascham  (1515-1568)  was  celebrated  as  a  classical 
scholar.  It  was  his  tutoring  Elizabeth,  however,  that  secured 
for  his  name  a  permanent  place  in  history. 

f  This  movement,  popularly  known  as  WyatVs  Rebellion, 
was  led  by  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  the  younger  and  the  Duke  of 
Suffolk,  1553-4.  Wyatt  was  executed  April  11, 1554. 


EARLY  LIFE  :  1533-1558.  5 

with  Mary  Stuart,  whose  behavior  under  precisely 
similar  circumstances  was  so  very  different. 

Renard,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  demanded  her 
execution  as  the  condition  of  the  Spanish  match,  and 
Mary  assured  him  that  she  would  do  her  best  to 
satisfy  him.  In  the  time  of  Henry  YIII.  such  an  in- 
tention on  the  part  of  the  sovereign  would  have  been 
equivalent  to  a  sentence  of  death.  But  Mary  was 
far  from  being  as  powerful  as  her  father.  The 
Council  had  to  be  reckoned  with,  and  in  the  Council 
independent  and  even  peremptory  language  was  now 
to  be  heard.  It  was  not  without  strong  protests  on 
the  part  of  some  of  the  Lords  that  Elizabeth  was  sent 
to  the  Tower.  Sussex,  a  noble  of  the  old  blood, 
who  was  charged  to  conduct  her  there,  took  upon 
him  to  delay  her  departure,  that  she  might  appeal 
to  the  Queen  for  an  interview.  Mary  was  furious : 
"  For  their  lives,"  she  said,  "  they  durst  not  have 
acted  so  in  her  father's  time  ;  she  wished  he  was 
alive  and  among  them  for  a  single  month."  But  it 
was  useless  to  storm.  The  absolute  monarchy  had 
seen  its  best  days.  Sussex,  fearing  foul  play,  warned 
the  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower  to  keep  within  his 
written  instructions.  Howard  of  Effingham,  the 
Lord  Admiral,  had  done  more  than  any  one  else  to 
place  Mary  on  the  throne.  But  he  was  Elizabeth's 
great-uncle,  and  he  angrily  insisted  that  her  food  in 


e  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  Tower  should  be  prepared  by  her  own  servants. 
A  proposal  in  Parliament  to  give  the  Queen  the 
power  to  nominate  a  successor  was  received  with 
such  disfavor  that  it  had  to  be  withdrawn.  Finally 
the  judges  declared  that  there  was  no  evidence  to 
convict  Elizabeth.  Sullenly  therefore  the  Queen  had 
to  give  way.  Elizabeth  was  sent  to  Woodstock, 
where  she  resided  for  about  a  year  under  guard. 
This  was  only  reasonable.  An  heir  to  the  throne,  in 
whose  favor  there  had  been  plots,  could  not  expect 
complete  freedom.  In  October,  1555,  she  was  allowed 
to  go  to  Hatfield  under  the  surveillance  of  Sir 
Thomas  Pope.  During  the  rest  of  the  reign  she 
escaped  molestation  by  outward  conformity  to  the 
Catholic  religion,  and  by  taking  no  part  whatever  in 
politics.  But  as  it  became  clear  that  her  accession 
was  at  hand  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  she  was  en- 
gaged in  studying  the  problems  with  which  she  would 
have  to  deal.  She  was  already  in  close  intimacy 
with  Cecil,  *  and  it  is  evident  that  she  mounted  the 
throne  with  a  policy  carefully  thought  out  in  its 
main  lines. 

When  Mary  was  known  to  be  dying,  the  Spanish 

*  William  Cecil  ( 1520-1598)  was  the  strong  right  arm  of 
Elizabeth's  administration  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He  was 
made  secretary  of  state  in  1550  under  Edward  VI.,  serving 
also  under  Mary  as  well  as  Elizabeth.  For  a  sketch  of  his 
early  life,  see  below,  p.  15. 


EARLY  LIFE  :  1533-1558.  7 

ambassador,  Feria,  called  on  Elizabeth,  and  told  her 
that  his  master  had  exerted  his  influence  with  the 
Queen  and  Council  on  her  behalf,  and  had  secured 
her  succession.  But  she  declined  to  be  patronized, 
and  told  him  that  the  people  and  nobility  were  on 
her  side. 


QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTEK  11. 

THE  CHANGE  OF  RELIGION  I    1559. 

Mart  died  on  the  17th  of  l^ovember,  1558.  Par- 
liament was  then  sitting,  and,  in  communicating  the 
event  to  both  Houses,  Archbishop  Heath  frankly 
took  the  initiative  in  recognizing  Elizabeth,  "of 
whose  most  lawful  right  and  title  in  the  succession 
of  the  Crown,  thanks  be  to  God,  we  need  not  to 
doubt."  He  was  a  staunch  Catholic,  and  two  months 
later  refused  to  officiate  at  her  coronation.  But  he 
was  an  Englishman,  and  even  the  most  convinced 
Catholics,  though  looking  forward  with  uneasiness  to 
the  religious  policy  of  the  new  Queen,  were  sincerely 
glad  that  there  was  no  danger  of  a  disputed  succes- 
sion. Besides,  it  was  by  no  means  clear  that  Eliza- 
beth would  not  accept  the  ecclesiastical  constitu- 
tion as  established  in  the  late  reign.  That  there 
would  be  an  end  of  burnings,  and  of  the  harassing 
tyranny  of  the  bishops,  every  one  felt  certain  ;  but 
it  seemed  quite  upon  the  cards  that  Elizabeth  would 


THE  CHANGE  OF  RELIGION  :  1559.  9 

continue  to  recognize  the  headship  of  the  Pope  in  a 
formal  way  and  maintain  the  Mass.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  religious  changes  had  only  begun 
some  thirty  years  before.  All  middle-aged  men 
could  remember  the  time  when  the  ecclesiastical  fab- 
ric stood  to  all  appearance  unbroken,  as  it  had  stood 
for  centuries.  Only  twenty -four  years  had  passed 
since  the  Act  of  Supremacy  had  transferred  the  head- 
ship of  the  Church  from  the  Pope  to  the  King ;  only 
eleven  since  the  Protestant  doctrine  and  worship  had 
been  forced  on  the  country  by  the  Protector  Somer- 
set, to  the  horror  and  disgust  of  the  great  majority 
of  Englishmen.  The  nation  had  sorrowed  for  the 
death  of  Edward  YI.,  because  it  darkened  the  pros- 
pects of  the  succession,  and  seemed  likely  sooner  or 
later  to  bring  on  a  civil  war.  But  apart  from  the 
hot  Protestant  minority,  chiefly  to  be  found  in  Lon- 
don, the  mass  of  the  nation  was  conservative,  and 
welcomed  the  re-establishment  of  the  old  religion  as  a 
return  to  order  and  common  sense  after  a  short  and 
bitter  experience  of  revolutionary  anarchy.  There 
was  a  rooted  objection  to  restore  the  old  meddle- 
some tyranny  of  the  bishops,  and  the  nobles  and 
squires  who  had  got  hold  of  the  abbey  lands  would 
not  hear  of  giving  them  up.  But  the  return  to  com- 
munion with  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  Pope  as  its  head  gave  satisfaction  to 


10  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

three-fourths,  perhaps  to  five-sixths,  of  the  nation, 
and  to  a  still  larger  proportion  of  its  most  influential 
class,  the  great  landed  proprietors.  Mary's  acces- 
sion was  the  great  and  unique  opportunity  for  the 
old  Church.  If  Mary  and  Pole*  had  been  cool- 
headed  politicians  instead  of  excitable  fanatics,  if 
they  had  contented  themselves  with  restoring  the  old 
worship,  depriving  the  few  Protestant  clergy  of 
their  benefices,  and  punishing  only  outrageous  at- 
tacks on  the  State  religion,  Elizabeth  would  not  have 
had  the  power,  it  may  be  doubted  whether  she  would 
have  had  the  inclination,  to  undo  her  sister's  work. 
This  great  opportunity  was  thrown  away.  Mary's 
bishops  came  back  brooding  over  the  long  catalogue 
of  humiliations  and  indignities  which  their  Church 
had  suffered,  and  thirsting  to  avenge  their  own 
wrongs.  For  six  years  they  had  their  fling,  and 
contrived  to  make  the  country  forget  the  period  of 
Protestant    misgovernment.     England  had   never 

*  Reginald  Pole  (1500-1558 )  was  an  English  Roman  Catho- 
lic prelate  who  has  been  called  "the  Cardinal  of  England." 
Henry  VIII.,  with  whom  he  quarreled  had  a  price  set  on  his 
head,  which  compelled  him  to  flee  from  England  ;  but  after 
the  death  of  Edward  VI.  he  returned  to  the  country  in  the 
interest  of  Mary.  He  was  held  to  be  largely  responsible  for 
the  bitter  persecution  of  the  Protestants.  On  the  burning  of 
Cranmer  at  the  stake  Pole  was  made  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. He  died  the  day  following  the  death  of  Mary,  his  death 
doubtless  being  hastened  by  the  complete  failure  of  his 
schemes  and  hopes* 


THE  CHANGE  OF  EELIGION  :  1559.  H 

before  known  what  it  was  to  be  governed  by  clergy- 
men. It  was  a  sort  of  rule  as  hateful  to  most 
Catholic  laymen  as  to  Protestants.  Catholics  there- 
fore for  the  most  part,  as  well  as  Protestants,  hailed 
the  accession  of  Elizabeth.  At  any  rate  there  would 
be  an  end  of  the  clerical  tyranny.  ISTor  were  they 
without  hope  that  she  would  maintain  the  old  wor- 
ship. She  had  conformed  to  it  for  the  last  ^re 
years,  and  Philip  had  given  the  word  that  she  was 
to  be  supported. 

We  are  now  accustomed  to  the  Papal  non  pos- 
sumus,^  No  nation  or  Church  can  hope  that  the 
smallest  deviation  from  Koman  doctrine  or  disci- 
pline will  be  tolerated.  But  in  1558  the  hard  and 
fast  line  had  not  yet  been  drawn.  France  was  still 
pressing  for  such  changes  as  communion  in  both 
kinds,  worship  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  marriage 
of  priests.  The  Council  of  Trent,  it  is  true,  had 
already  in  1545  decided  that  Catholic  doctrine  was 
contained  in  the  Bible  and  Tradition,  and  in  1551 
had  defined  transubstantiation  and  the  sacraments. 
But  in  1552  the  Council  was  prorogued,  and  it  did 
not  resume  till  1562.  Doctrine  and  discipline  there- 
fore might  be,  and  were  still  considered  to  be,  in  the 

*  These  words,  literally  meaning  "  we  are  unable  "  (to  do 
something,  to  act)  is  a  form  of  ecclesiastical  refusal ;  it  is  the 
plea  of  inability. 


12  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

melting-pot,  and  no  one  could  be  certain  what  would 
come  out.  If  Elizabeth  had  contented  herself  with 
the  French  programme,  and  had  joined  France  in 
pressing  it,  the  other  sovereigns,  who  really  cared 
for  nothing  but  uniformity,  would  probably  have 
forced  the  Pope  to  compromise.  The  Lutheran 
doctrine  of  con  substantiation  might  have  been 
tolerated.  The  Anglican  formulas  have  been  held 
by  many  to  be  compatible  with  a  belief  in  the  Eeal 
Presence.  The  formal  severance  of  England  from 
Catholic  unity  might  thus  have  been  postponed — 
possibly  avoided — in  the  same  sense  that  it  has  been 
avoided  in  France.  After  the  completion  of  the 
Council  of  Trent  (1562-3)  it  was  too  late. 

Two  years  after  her  accession  Elizabeth  told  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  De  Quadra,  that  her  belief  was 
the  belief  of  all  the  Catholics  in  the  realm ;  and  on 
his  asking  her  how  then  she  could  have  altered 
religion  in  1559,  she  said  she  had  been  compelled  to 
act  as  she  did,  and  that,  if  he  knew  how  she  had 
been  driven  to  it,  she  was  sure  he  would  excuse  her. 
Seven  years  later  she  made  the  same  statement  to 
De  Silva.  |  Elizabeth  was  habitually  so  regardless  of 
truth  that  her  assertions  can  be  allowed  little  weight 
when  they  are  improbable.  'No  doubt,  as  a  matter 
of  taste  and  feeling,  she  preferred  the  Catholic  wor- 
ship.   She  was  not  pious.    She  was  not  troubled 


THE  CHANGE  OF  RELIGION  :  1559.  13 

with  a  tender  conscience  or  tormented  by  a  sense  of 
sin.  She  did  not  care  to  cultivate  close  personal 
relations  with  her  God.,'  A  religion  of  form  and 
ceremony  suited  her  better.  But  her  training  had 
been  such  as  to  free  her  from  all  superstitious  fear 
or  prejudice,  and  her  religious  convictions  were 
determined  by  her  sense  of  what  was  most  reason- 
able and  convenient.  There  is  not  the  least  evi- 
dence that  she  was  a  reluctant  agent  in  the  adoption 
of  Protestantism  in  1559.  Who  was  there  to  coerce 
her  ?  The  Protestants  could  not  have  set  up  a  Prot- 
estant competitor.  The  great  nobles,  though  op- 
posed to  persecution  and  desirous  of  minimizing  the 
Pope's  authority,  would  have  preferred  to  leave 
worship  as  it  was.  But  upon  one  thing  Elizabeth 
was  determined.  She  would  resume  the  full  eccle- 
siastical supremacy  which  her  father  had  annexed  to 
the  Crown.  She  judged,  and  she  probably  judged 
rightly,  that  the  only  way  to  assure  this  was  to 
make  the  breach  with  the  old  religion  complete.  If 
she  had  placed  herself  in  the  hands  of  moderate 
Catholics  like  Paget,  possessed  with  the  belief  that 
she  could  only  maintain  herself  by  the  protection  of 
Philip,  they  would  have  advised  her  to  be  content 
with  the  practical  authority  over  the  English  Church 
which  many  an  English  king  had  known  how  to  ex- 
ercise.   That  was  not  enough  for  her.    She  desired 


14  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

a  position  free  from  ail  ambiguity  and  possibility  of 
dispute,  not  one  which  would  have  to  be  defended 
w^ith  constant  vigilance  and  at  the  cost  of  incessant 
bickering. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  her  foreign  relations 
the  moment  might  seem  to  be  a  dangerous  one  for 
carrying  out  a  religious  revolution,  and  many  a 
statesman  with  a  deserved  reputation  for  prudence 
would  have  counselled  delay.  But  this  disadvantage 
was  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  unpopularity 
which  the  cruelties  and  disasters  of  Mary's  last 
three  years  had  brought  upon  the  most  active  Cath- 
olics. Again,  Elizabeth  no  doubt  recognized  that 
the  Catholics,  though  at  present  the  strongest,  were 
the  declining  party.  The  future  was  with  the  Prot- 
estants. It  was  the  young  men  who  had  fixed 
their  hopes  upon  her  in  her  sister's  time,  and  who 
were  ready  to  rally  round  her  now.  By  her  natural 
disposition,  and  by  her  culture,  she  belonged  to  the 
Kenaissance  rather  than  to  the  Reformation.  But 
obscurantist  as  Calvinism  essentially  was,  the  Cal- 
vinists,  as  a  minority  struggling  for  freedom  to 
think  and  teach  what  they  believed,  represented  for 
a  time  the  cause  of  light  and  intellectual  emancipa- 
tion. "Was  she  to  put  herself  at  the  head  of  reaction 
or  progress?  She  did  not  love  the  Calvinists. 
They  were  too  much  in  earnest  for  her.    Their  nar- 


THE  CHANGE  OF  RELIGION  :  1559.  15 

row  creed  was  as  tainted  with  superstition  as  that  of 
Eorae,  and,  at  bottom,  was  less  humane,  less  favor- 
able to  progress.  But  whom  else  had  she  to  work 
with?  The  reasonable,  secular-minded,  tolerant 
sceptics  are  not  always  the  best  fighting  material ; 
and  at  that  time  they  were  few  in  number  and  tend- 
ing— in  England  at  least — to  be  ground  out  of  ex- 
istence between  the  upper  and  nether  millstones  of 
the  rival  fanaticisms.  If  she  broke  with  Catholicism 
she  would  be  sure  of  the  ardent  and  unwavering 
support  of  one-third  of  the  nation  ;  so  sure,  that  she 
would  have  no  need  to  take  any  further  pains  to 
please  them.  As  for  the  remaining  two-thirds,  she 
hoped  to  conciliate  most  of  them  by  posing  as  their 
protector  against  the  persecution  which  would  have 
been  pleasing  to  Protestant  bigots. 

In  the  policy  of  a  complete  breach  with  Kome, 
Cecil  was  disposed  to  go  as  far  as  the  Queen,  and 
further.  Cecil  was  at  this  time  thirty-eight.  For 
forty  years  he  continued  to  be  the  confidential  and 
faithful  servant  of  Elizabeth.  One  of  those  new 
men  whom  the  Tudors  most  trusted,  he  was  first 
employed  by  Henry  YIII.  Under  Edward  he  rose 
to  be  Secretary  of  State,  and  was  a  pronounced  Prot- 
estant. On  the  fall  of  his  patron  Somerset  he  was 
for  a  short  time  sent  to  the  Tower,  but  was  soon  in 
ofiice  again — sooner,  some  thought,  than  was  quite 


16  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

decent — under  his  patron's  old  enemy,  l^orthumber- 
land.  He  signed  the  letters-patent  bj  which  the 
crown  was  conferred  on  Lady  Jane  Grey  ;  but  took 
an  early  opportunity  of  going  over  to  Mary.  Dur- 
ing her  reign  he  conformed  to  the  old  religion,  and, 
though  not  holding  any  office,  was  consulted  on 
public  business,  and  was  one  of  the  three  commis- 
sioners who  went  to  fetch  Cardinal  Pole  to  England. 
Thoroughly  capable  in  business,  one  of  those  to 
whom  power  naturally  falls  because  they  know  how 
to  use  it,  a  shrewd  balancer  of  probabilities,  without 
a  particle  of  fanaticism  in  his  composition  and  de- 
testing it  in  others,  though  ready  to  make  use  of  it 
to  serve  his  ends,  entirely  believing  that  "  whate'er 
is  best  administered  is  best,''  Cecil  nevertheless  had 
his  religious  predilections,  and  they  were  all  on  the 
side  of  the  Protestants.  Moreover  he  had  a  personal 
motive  which,  by  the  nature  of  the  case,  was  not 
present  to  the  Queen.  She  might  die  prematurely ; 
and  if  that  event  should  take  place  before  the  Prot- 
estant ascendancy  was  firmly  established  his  power 
would  be  at  an  end,  and  his  very  life  would  be  in 
danger.  A  time  came  when  he  and  his  party  had  so 
strengthened  themselves,  if  not  in  absolute  numerical 
superiority,  yet  by  the  hold  they  had  established  on 
all  departments  of  Government  from  the  highest  to 
the  lowest,  that  they  were  in  a  condition  to  resist  a 


THE  CHANGE  OF  RELIGION  :  1559.  17 

Catholic  claimant  to  the  throne,  if  need  were,  sword 
in  hand.  But  during  the  early  years  of  the  reign 
Cecil  was  working  with  the  rope  round  his  neck. 
Hence  he  could  not  regard  the  progress  of  events, 
with  the  imperturbable  sang-froid  which  Elizabeth 
always  displayed ;  and  all  his  influence  was  employed 
to  push  the  religious  revolution  through  as  rapidly 
and  completely  as  possible. 

The  story  that  Elizabeth  was  influenced  in  her 
attitude  to  Eome  by  an  arrogant  reply  from  Pope 
Paul  lY.  to  her  official  notification  of  her  accession, 
though  refuted  by  Lingard  and  Hallam  in  their  later 
editions,  has  been  repeated  by  recent  historians.  Her 
accession  was  notified  to  every  friendly  sovereign  ex- 
cept the  Pope.  He  was  studiously  ignored  from  the 
first.  Equally  unsupported  by  facts  are  all  attempts 
to  show  that  during  the  early  weeks  of  her  reign  she 
had  not  made  up  her  mind  as  to  the  course  she  would 
take  about  religion.  All  preaching,  it  is  true,  was 
suspended  by  proclamation ;  and  it  was  ordered  that 
the  established  worship  should  go  on  "until  consulta- 
tion might  be  had  in  Parliament  by  the  Queen  and 
the  three  Estates."  In  the  meantime  she  had  her- 
self crowned  according  to  the  ancient  ritual  by  the 
Catholic  Bishop  of  Carlisle.  But  this  is  only  what 
might  have  been  expected  from  a  strong  ruler  who 
was  not  disposed  to  let  important  alterations  be  initi- 


18  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

ated  by  popular  commotion  or  the  presumptuous  for- 
wardness of  individual  clergymen.  The  impending 
change  was  quite  sufficiently  marked  from  the  first 
by  the  removal  of  the  most  bigoted  Catholics  from 
the  Council  and  by  the  appointment  of  Cecil  and 
Bacon  to  the  offices  of  Secretary  and  of  Lord  Keeper. 
The  new  Parliament,  Protestant  candidates  for  which 
had  been  recommended  by  the  Government,  met  as 
soon  as  possible  (Jan.  25,  1559).  When  it  rose  (May 
8th)  the  great  change  had  been  legally  and  decisively 
accomplished. 

I  The  government,  worship,  and  doctrine  of  the  Es- 
tablished Church  are  the  most  abiding  marks  left  by 
Elizabeth  on  the  national  life  of  England.  Logically 
it  might  have  been  expected  that  the  settlement  of 
doctrine  would  precede  that  of  government  and  wor- 
ship. It  is  characteristic  of  a  State  Church  that  the 
inverse  order  should  have  been  followed.  For  the 
Queen  the  most  important  question  was  Church  gov- 
ernment ;  for  the  people,  worship.  Both  these  mat- 
ters were  disposed  of  with  great  promptitude  at  the 
beginning  of  1559.  Doctrine  might  interest  the 
clergy ;  but  it  could  wait.  The  Thirty-nine  Articles 
were  not  adopted  by  Convocation  till  1563,  and  were 
not  sanctioned  by  Parliament  till  1571. 

The  government  of  the  Church  was  settled  by  the 
Act  of  Supremacy  (April,  1559).    It  revived  the  Act 


THE  CHANGE  OF  RELIGION  :  1559.  19 

of  Henry  YIII.,  except  that  the  Queen  was  styled 
Supreme  Governor  of  the  Church  instead  of  Supreme 
Head,  although  the  nature  of  the  supremacy  was 
precisely  the  same.  The  penalties  were  relaxed. 
Henry's  oath  of  supremacy  might  be  tendered  to  any 
subject,  and  to  decline  it  was  high  treason ;  Eliza- 
beth's oath  was  to  be  obligatory  only  on  persons  hold- 
ing spiritual  or  temporal  office  under  the  Crown,  and 
the  penalty  for  declining  was  the  loss  of  such  office. 
Those  who  chose  to  attack  the  supremacy  were  still 
liable  to  the  penalties  of  treason  on  the  third  offence. 
"Worship  was  settled  with  equal  expedition  by  the 
Act  of  Uniformity  (April,  1659),  which  imposed  the 
second  or  more  Protestant  Prayer-book  of  Edward 
YI.,  but  with  a  few  very  important  alterations.  A 
deprecation  in  the  Litany  of  "  the  tyranny  of  the 
Bishop  of  Rome  and  all  his  detestable  enormities," 
and  a  rubric  which  declared  that  by  kneeling  at  the 
Communion  no  adoration  was  intended  to  any  real 
and  essential  presence  of  Christ,  were  expunged. 
The  words  of  administration  in  the  present  commu- 
nion service  consist  of  two  sentences.  The  first  sen- 
tence, implying  real  presence,  belonged  to  Edward's 
first  Prayer-book  ;  the  second,  implying  mere  com- 
memoration, belonged  to  his  second  Prayer-book. 
The  Prayer-book  of  1559  simply  pieced  the  two  to- 
gether, with  a  view  to  satisfy  both  Catholics  and 


20  .      QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

Protestants.  Lastly,  the  vestments  prescribed  in 
Edward's  first  Prayer-book  were  retained  till  further 
notice.  These  alterations  of  Edward's  second 
Prayer-book,  all  of  them  designed  to  propitiate  the 
Catholics,  were  dictated  by  Elizabeth  herself.  In 
all  this  legislation  Convocation  was  entirely  ignored. 
Both  its  houses  showed  themselves  strongly  Catholic. 
But  their  opinion  was  not  asked,  and  no  notice  was 
taken  of  their  remonstrances. 

While  determining  that  England  should  have  a 
purely  national  Church,  and  for  that  reason  casting 
in  her  lot  with  the  Protestants,  Elizabeth,  as  we  have 
seen,  made  very  considerable  sacrifices  of  logic  and 
consistency  in  order  to  induce  Catholics  to  conform. 
Like  a  strong  and  wise  statesman,  she  did  not  allow 
herself  to  be  driven  into  one  concession  after  another, 
but  went  at  once  as  far  as  she  intended  to  go.  At 
the  same  time  the  coercion  applied  to  the  Catholics, 
while  sufficient  to  influence  the  worldly-minded  ma- 
jority, was,  during  the  early  part  of  her  reign,  very 
mild  for  those  times.  She  wished  no  one  to  be 
molested  who  did  not  go  out  of  his  way  to  invite  it. 
Outward  conformity  was  all  she  wanted.  And  of 
this  mere  attendance  at  church  was  accepted  as  suf- 
ficient evidence.  The  principal  difl&culty,  of  course, 
was  with  the  clergy.  From  them  more  than  a  mere 
passive  conformity  had  to  be  exacted.    To  sign  dec- 


THE  CHANGE  OF  RELIGION  :  1559.  21 

larations,  take  oaths,  and  officiate  in  church  was  a 
severer  strain  on  the  conscience.  It  is  said  that  less 
than  200  out  of  9400  sacrificed  their  benefices  rather 
than  conform,  and  that  of  these  about  100  were  dig- 
nitaries. The  number  must  be  understated;  for  the 
chief  difficulty  of  the  new  bishops,  for  a  long  time, 
was  to  find  clergymen  for  the  parish  churches.  But 
we  cannot  doubt  that  the  large  majority  of  the  par- 
ish clergy  stuck  to  their  living,  remaining  Catholics 
at  heart,  and  avoiding,  where  they  could,  and  as  long 
as  they  could,  compliance  with  the  new  regulations. 
It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  enactment  of  re- 
ligious changes  by  Parliament  was  equivalent,  as  it 
would  be  at  the  present  day,  to  their  immediate  en- 
forcement throughout  the  country ;  especially  in 
the  north  where  the  great  proprietors  and  justices 
of  the  peace  did  not  carry  out  the  law.  A  certain 
number  of  the  ejected  priests  continued  to  celebrate 
the  ancient  rites  privately  in  the  houses  of  the  more 
earnest  Catholics  ;  for  which  they  were  not  infre- 
quently punished  by  imprisonment.  Of  course  this 
was  persecution.  But  according  to  the  ideas  of  that 
day  it  was  a  very  mild  kind  of  persecution;  and 
where  it  occurred  it  seems  to  have  been  due  to  the 
zeal  of  some  of  the  bishops,  and  to  private  busy- 
bodies  who  set  the  law  in  motion,  rather  than  to  any 
systematic  action  on  the  part  of  the  Government. 


22  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTEE  III. 

FOREIGN   RELATIONS  :    1659-1563. 

The  successful  wars  waged  by  Edward  III.  and 
Henry  Y.  are  apt  to  cause  an  exaggerated  estimate 
of  the  strength  of  England  under  the  Tudors.  The 
population — Wales  included — was  probably  not 
much  more  than  four  millions.  That  of  France  was 
perhaps  four  times  as  large,  and  the  superiority  in 
wealth  was  even  greater.*  Before  the  reign  of  Louis 
XI.,  France,  weakened  by  feudal  disunion,  had  been 
an  easy  prey  to  her  smaller  but  better-organized 
neighbor.  The  work  of  concentration  effected  by  the 
greatest  of  French  kings  towards  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  and  the  simultaneous  rise  of 
the  great  Spanish  empire,  caused  England  to  fall  at 
once  into  the  rank  of  a  second-rate  power.  Such 
she  reall}''  was  under  Henry  YIII.,  notwith- 
standing the  rather  showy  figure  he  managed  to 

*  Mr.  Motley  conjectures  that  the  population  of  Spain  and 
Portugal  may  have  been  13,000,000. 


FOREIGN  EELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  23 

make  by  adhering  alternately  to  Charles  Y.  and 
Francis  I.  Under  the  bad  government  of  Edward  | 
and  Mary  the  fighting  strength  of  England  declined  l 
not  only  relatively,  but  absolutely,  until  in  the  last 
year  of  Mary  it  touched  the  lowest  point  in  our 
history.  Although  we  were  at  war  with  France, 
there  were  no  soldiers,  no  officers,  no  arms,  no 
fortresses  that  could  resist  artillery,  few  ships,  a 
heavy  debt,  and  deep  discouragement.  The  loss  of 
Calais,  which  had  been  held  for  200  years,  was  the 
simple  and  natural  consequence  of  this  prostration. 
Justice  will  not  be  done  to  the  great  recovery  under 
Elizabeth  unless  we  understand  how  low  the  country 
had  sunk  when  she  came  to  the  throne. 

During  the  early  years  of  her  reign,  it  was  the 
universal  opinion  at  home  and  abroad  that  without 
Spanish  protection  she  could  not  preserve  her  throne 
against  a  French  invasion  in  the  interests  of  Mary 
Stuart.  Henry  II.  meant  that,  by  the  marriage  of 
the  Dauphin  Francis  with  Mary,  the  kingdoms  of 
England  and  Scotland  should  be  united  to  one 
another  and  eventually  to  France.  Philip  would 
thus  lose  the  command  of  the  sea  route  to  the 
Netherlands,  and  the  hereditary  duel  with  the  House 
of  Austria  would  be  decided.  This  scheme  could 
not  seem  fantastic  in  a  century  which  had  seen  such 
immense  agglomerations  of  territory  effected  by  polit- 


24:  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

ical  marriages.  Philip,  on  the  other  hand,  made 
sure  that  the  danger  from  France  must  necessarily 
throw  Elizabeth  and  England  into  his  arms.  'Not- 
withstanding  the  warnings  he  received  from  his 
ambassador  Feria  that  Elizabeth  was  a  heretic,  he 
felt  certain  that  she  would  not  venture  to  alter 
religion  at  the  risk  of  offending  him.  The  only 
question  with  him  was  whether  he  should  marry  her 
himself  or  bestow  her  on  some  sure  friend  of  his 
house.  That  she  would  refuse  both  himself  and  his 
nominee  was  a  contingency  he  never  contemplated. 

Elizabeth,  from  the  first,  made  up  her  mind  that 
the  cards  in  her  hand  could  be  played  to  more  ad- 
vantage than  Philip  supposed.  England,  no  doubt, 
needed  his  protection  for  the  present.  But  could  he 
please  himself  about  granting  it  ?  Her  bold  calcula- 
tion was  that  his  own  interests  would  compel  him, 
in  any  case,  to  prevent  the  execution  of  the  Stuart- 
Yalois  scheme,  and  that  consequently  she  might 
settle  religion  without  reference  to  his  wishes. 

The  offer  of  marriage  came  in  January,  1559.  In 
his  letter  to  Feria,  Philip  spoke  as  if  Elizabeth  would 
of  course  jump  at  it.  After  dwelling  on  its  many 
inconveniences,  he  said  he  had  decided  to  make  the 
sacrifice  on  condition  that  Elizabeth  would  uphold 
the  Catholic  religion  ;  but  she  must  not  expect  him 
to  remain  long  wrth  her  ;  he  would  visit  England 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  26 

occasionally.  Feria  foolishly  allowed  this  letter  to 
be  seen,  and  the  contents  were  reported  to  Elizabeth. 
She  was  as  much  amused  as  piqued.  Their  ages  were 
not  unsuitable.  Philip  was  thirty-two,  and  Elizabeth 
was  twenty-five.  But  she  was  as  fastidious  about 
men  as  her  father  was  about  women  ;  and  for  no 
political  consideration  would  she  have  tied  herself  to 
her  ugly,  disagreeable,  little  brother-in-law.  After 
some  fencing,  she  replied  that  she  did  not  mean  to 
marry,  and  that  she  was  not  afraid  of  France. 

Before  the  death  of  Mary,  negotiations  for  a  peace 
between  France,  Spain,  and  England,  had  already 
begun.  Calais  was  almost  the  only  difficulty  re- 
maining to  be  settled.  Our  countrymen  have  never 
been  able  to  understand  how  their  possession  of  a 
fortress  within  the  natural  boundaries  of  another 
country  can  be  disagreeable  to  its  inhabitants. 
Elizabeth  shared  the  national  feeling,  and  she  wanted 
Philip  to  insist  on  the  restitution  of  Calais.  He 
would  have  done  so  if  she  had  pleased  him  as  to 
other  matters.  Even  as  it  was,  the  presence  of  a 
French  garrison  in  Calais  was  so  inconvenient  to  the 
master  of  the  Netherlands  that  he  was  ready  to 
fight  on  if  England  would  do  her  part.  But  Eliza- 
beth would  only  promise  to  fight  Scotland — a  very 
indirect  and,  indeed,  useless  way  of  supporting  Philip. 
When  once  this  point  was  made  clear,  peace  was 


26  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

soon  concluded  between  the  three  powers  at  Cateau, 
near  Cambray  (March,  1559) ;  *  appearances  being 
saved  by  a  stipulation  that  Calais  should  be  restored 
in  eight  years,  or  half  a  million  of  crowns  be  for- 
feited. 

In  thus  giving  way  Elizabeth  showed  her  good 
sense.  To  have  fought  on  would  have  meant  deeper 
debt,  terrible  exhaustion,  and,  what  was  worse,  de- 
pendence on  Philip.  Moreover,  Calais  could  only 
have  been  recovered  by  reducing  France  to  help- 
lessness, which  would  have  been  fatal  to  the  balance 
of  power  on  which  Elizabeth  relied  to  make  herself 
independent  of  both  her  great  neighbors.  The 
peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis  was  attained  with  a 
secret  compact  between  Philip  II.  and  Henry  II., 
that  each  monarch  should  suppress  heresy  in  his  own 
dominions  and  not  encourage  it  in  those  of  his 
neighbor.  By  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  and  the 
Scotch  Reformation  which  immediately  followed, 


*  This  important  tripartite  treaty  between  France,  Spain, 
and  England,  known  by  the  names  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  was 
signed  April  2-3,  1559.  France  retained  Calais  and  the  three 
important  bishoprics  of  Metz,  Toul  and  Verdun,  but  ceded  to 
Philip  Savoy,  Corsica,  and  nearly  two  hundred  forts  in  Italy 
and  the  Netherlands.  By  this  treaty  also  cross  marriages 
were  arranged  between  France,  Savoy,  and  Spain.  There 
were  also  secret  articles  in  the  treaty  by  which  the  Guises  for 
France  and  Granvelle  for  the  Netherlands  agreed  to  crush 
heresy  with  a  strong  hand. 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  27 

Protestantism  reached  its  high- water  mark  in  Europe. 
The  long  wars  of  Charles  Y.  with  France  had  enabled 
it  to  spread.  Francis  I.  had  intrigued  with  the 
Protestant  princes  of  the  Empire,  and  Charles 
had  been  obliged  to  humor  them.  Protestantism 
was  victorious  in  Britain,  Scandinavia,  IS'orth  Ger- 
many, the  Palatinate,  and  Swabia.  It  had  spread 
widely  in  Poland,  Hungary,  the  Netherlands,  and 
France.  This  rapid  growth  was  now  about  to  be 
checked.  In  some  of  these  countries  the  new  re- 
ligion was  destined  to  succumb ;  in  some  entirely  to 
disappear.  Men  who  could  remember  the  first 
preachings  of  Luther  lived  to  see  not  only  the  high- 
water,  but  the  ebb,  of  the  Protestant  tide.  The 
revolutionary  tendencies  inherent  in  Protestantism 
began  to  alarm  the  sovereigns  ;  and  all  the  more 
because  the  Church  in  Catholic,  hardly  less  than  in 
Protestant,  countries  was  becoming  a  department  of 
the  State.  Kings  had  been  jealous  of  the  spiritual 
power  when  it  belonged  to  the  Popes.  They  became 
jealous  for  it  when  it  was  annexed  to  the  throne. 

Notwithstanding  its  secret  stipulations,  the  peace 
of  Cateau-Cambresis  relieved  England  from  the 
most  pressing  and  immediate  perils  by  which  she 
was  threatened.  Neither  French  nor  Spanish  troops 
had  made  their  appearance  on  our  soil.  A  breathing- 
time  at  least  had  been  gained,  during  which  some- 


28  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

thing  might  be  done  towards  putting  the  country 
in  a  state  of  defence,  and  restoring  the  finances. 

But  the  danger  from  France  was  by  no  means  at 
an  end.  In  the  treaty  with  England,  the  title  of 
Elizabeth  had  been  acknowledged.  But  in  that  with 
Spain,  the  Dauphin  had  styled  himself  "  King  of 
Scotland,  England,  and  Ireland."  He  and  Mary 
had  also  assumed  the  English  arms.  If  a  French 
army  invaded  England,  it  would  come  by  way  of 
Scotland.  The  English  Catholics,  who  had  for  the 
most  part  frankly  accepted  the  succession  of  Eliza- 
beth, were  disappointed  and  irritated  by  the  change 
of  religion.  If  Mary  should  go  to  Scotland  with  a 
French  force,  it  was  to  be  apprehended  that  a  re- 
bellion would  immediately  break  out  in  the  northern 
countries.  Philip,  no  doubt,  would  land  in  the  south 
to  drive  out  the  Dauphiness.  But  the  remedy  would 
be  worse  than  the  disease.  For  he  was  deeply  dis- 
contented with  the  conduct  of  Elizabeth,  and  would 
probably  take  the  opportunity  of  deposing  her.  To 
establish,  therefore,  her  independence  of  both  her 
powerful  neighbors,  Elizabeth  had  to  begin  by  de- 
stroying French  influence  in  Scotland. 

The  wisest  heads  in  Scotland  had  long  seen  the 
advantage  of  uniting  their  country  to  England  by 
marriage.  The  blundering  and  bullying  policy  of 
the  Protector  Somerset  had  driven  the  Scotch  to 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  29 

renew  their  ancient  alliance  with  France.  But  the 
attempts  of  the  Eegent  Mary  of  Guise  to  increase 
French  influence,  and  to  establish  a  small  standing 
army,  in  order  at  once  to  strengthen  her  authority, 
and  to  serve  the  designs  of  Henry  II.  against  Eng- 
land, had  again  made  the  French  connection  un- 
popular, and  caused  a  corresponding  revival  of 
friendly  feeling  towards  England. 

I^owhere  was  the  Church  so  wealthy,  relatively 
to  the  other  estates,  as  in  Scotland.  It  was  supposed 
to  possess  half  the  property  of  the  country.  No- 
where were  the  clergy  so  immoral.  Nowhere  was 
superstition  so  gross.  But  the  doctrines  of  the  Ref- 
ormation were  spreading  among  the  common  people, 
and  in  1557  some  of  the  nobles,  hungering  for  the 
wealth  of  the  Church,  put  themselves  at  the  head  of 
the  Protestant  movement.  They  were  known  as 
the  "  Lords  of  the  Congregation." 

The  Scotch  Reformation  began  not  from  the  Gov- 
ernment, as  in  England,  but  from  the  people.  Hence, 
while  change  of  supremacy  was  the  main  question  in 
England,  change  of  doctrine  and  worship  took  the 
lead  in  Scotland.  The  two  parties  were  about  equal 
in  numbers,  the  Protestants  being  strongest  in  the 
Lowlands.  But,  with  the  exception  of  the  murder 
of  Beaton*  in  1546,  there  had,  as  yet,  been  no  appeal 

*  David  Beaton,  or  Bethune,  (1494-1546)  was  an  ecclesiastic 


30  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

to  force,  nor  any  attempt  to  procure  a  public  change 
of  religion.  The  accession  of  Elizabeth  emboldened 
the  Protestants.  At  Perth  they  took  possession  of 
the  churches  and  burnt  a  monastery.  On  the  other 
hand,  after  the  peace  of  Cateau-Cambresis,  Henry 
II.  directed  the  Eegent  to  put  down  Protestantism, 
both  in  pursuance  of  the  agreement  with  Philip,  and 
in  order  to  prepare  for  the  Franco-Scottish  invasion 
of  England.  The  result  was  that  the  Protestants 
rose  in  open  rebellion  (June,  1559).  The  Lords  of 
the  Congregation  occupied  Perth,  Stirling,  and  Edin- 
burgh. All  over  the  Lowlands  abbeys  were  wrecked, 
monks  harried,  churches  cleared  of  images,  the  Mass 
abolished,  and  King  Edward's  service  established  in 
its  place.  In  England  the  various  changes  of  relig- 
ion in  the  last  thirty  years  had  always  been  effected 
legally  by  King  and  Parliament.  In  Scotland  the 
Catholic  Church  was  overthrown  by  a  simultaneous 
popular  outbreak.  The  catastrophe  came  later  than 
in  England  ;  but  popular  feeling  was  more  prepared 

and  a  statesman  ;  in  the  former  character  he  was  cardinal  and 
primate  of  Scotland,  and  in  the  latter  character  he  was  a  dip- 
lomat of  great  ability,  several  times  filling  the  position  of  am- 
bassador to  France  with  marked  success.  He  was  a  bloody- 
persecutor  of  the  Protestants  and  was  instrumental  in  having 
the  celebrated  preacher,  George  Wishart,  burned  at  the  stake. 
Beaton  came  to  his  death  by  assassination  in  his  own  castle, 
May  29,  1546.  "  Haughty,  cruel,  and  intolerant,  he  was  also 
licentious  in  the  extreme." 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  31 

for  it ;  and  what  was  now  cast  down  was  never  set  up 
again. 

It  seemed  at  first  as  if  the  Eegent  and  her  hand- 
ful of  regalar  troops,  commanded  by  d'Oysel,*  would 
be  swept  away.  But  d'Oysel  had  fortified  Leith,  and 
was  even  able  to  take  the  field.  A  French  army 
was  expected.  The  tumultuary  forces  of  the  needy 
Scotch  nobles  could  not  be  kept  together  long,  and 
it  became  clear  that,  unless  supported  by  Elizabeth, 
the  rebellion  would  be  crushed  as  soon  as  the  French 
reinforcements  should  arrive,  if  not  sooner. 

Thus  early  did  Elizabeth  find  herself  confronted 
by  the  Scottish  difiiculty,  which  was  to  cause  her  so 
much  anxiety  throughout  the  greater  part  of  her 
reign.  The  problem,  though  varying  in  minor  de- 
tails, was  always  essentially  the  same.  There  was  a 
Protestant  faction  looking  for  support  to  England, 
and  a  Catholic  faction  looking  to  France.  Two  or 
three  of  the  Protestant  leaders — Moray,  Glencairn, 
Kirkaldy — did  really  care  something  about  a  relig- 
ious reformation.  The  rest  thought  more  of  get- 
ting hold  of  Church  lands  and  pursuing  old  family 
feuds.  In  the  experience  of  Elizabeth,  they  were  a 
needy,  greedy,  treacherous  crew,  always  sponging 

*  D'Oysel  was  the  French  ambassador,  **  supposed  to  be 
doubtful  in  matters  of  religion,"  but  he  was  appealed  to  that 
he  might  help  keep  the  peace. 


32  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

on  her  treasury,  and  giving  her  very  little  service  in 
return  for  her  money.  Besides,  the  whole  Scotch 
nation  was  so  touchy  in  its  patriotism,  so  jealous  of 
foreign  interference,  that  foreign  soldiers  present  on 
its  soil  were  sure  to  be  regarded  with  an  evil  eye,  no 
matter  for  what  purpose  they  had  come,  or  by  whom 
they  had  been  invited. 

The  Lords  of  the  Congregation  invoked  the  pro- 
tection of  Elizabeth.  They  suggested  that  she  should 
marry  the  Earl  of  Arran,  and  that  he  and  she  should 
be  King  and  Queen  of  Great  Britain.  Arran  was  the 
eldest  son  of  the  Duke  of  Chatelherault,  who,  Mary, 
being  as  yet  childless,  was  heir-presumptive  to  the 
Scottish  crown.  There  were  many  reasons  why 
Elizabeth  should  decline  interference.  It  was  throw- 
ing down  the  glove  to  France.  Interference  in  Scot- 
land had  always  been  disastrous.  It  might  drive  the 
English  Catholics  to  despair,  as  cutting  off  the  hope 
of  Mary's  succession  to  the  English  crown.  To  make 
a  Protestant  match  would  irritate  Philip.  He  might 
invade  England  to  forestall  the  French.  Almost  all 
her  Council — even  Bacon — advised  her  to  leave  Scot- 
land alone,  marry  the  Archduke  Charles,  and  trust 
to  the  Spanish  alliance  for  the  defence  of  England. 

These  were  serious  considerations ;  and  to  them 
was  to  be  joined  another  which  with  Elizabeth  always 
had  great  weight — more,  naturally,  than  it  had  with 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  33 

any  of  her  advisers.  She  shrank  from  doing  anything 
which  might  have  the  practical  effect  of  weakening 
the  common  cause  of  monarchs.  She  felt  instinc- 
tively that  with  Protestants  reverence  for  the  re- 
ligious basis  of  kingship  must  tend  to  become  weaker 
than  with  Catholics.  She  did  not  desire  to  encourage 
this  tendency  or  to  familiarize  her  own  subjects  with 
it.  Knox's  First  Blast  of  the  Trumpet  against  the 
Monstrous  Megimen  of  Women  had  been  directed 
against  Mary.  The  Blasts  that  were  to  follow  had 
been  dropped ;  but  the  first  could  not  be  treated  as 
unblown.  And  the  arrogant  preacher  did  not  mend 
matters  by  writing  to  Elizabeth  that  she  was  to  con- 
sider her  case  as  an  exception  "  contrary  to  nature," 
allowed  by  God  "  for  the  comfort  of  His  kirk,"  but 
that  if  she  based  her  title  on  her  birth  or  on  law, 
"  her  felicity  would  be  short." 

N"evertheless  Elizabeth  adopted  the  bolder  course. 
The  Lords  of  the  Congregation  were  assured  that 
England  would  not  see  them  crushed  by  French 
arms.  A  small  supply  of  money  was  sent  to  them. 
As  to  the  marriage  with  Arran,  no  positive  answer 
was  given ;  but  he  was  sent  for  to  be  looked  at. 
When  he  came,  he  was  found  to  be  even  a  poorer 
creature  than  his  father ;  at  times,  indeed,  not  quite 
right  in  his  mind.  It  was  hard  upon  the  Hamiltons, 
among  whom  were  so  many  able  and  daring  men, 


34:  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

that,  with  the  crown  almost  in  their  grasp,  their 
chiefs  should  be  such  incapables.  To  Elizabeth  it 
was  no  doubt  a  relief  to  find  that  Arran  was  an  im- 
possible husband. 

In  the  meantime  2000  French  had  arrived,  and  the 
Lords  were  urgent  in  their  demands  for  help.  But 
Elizabeth  determined,  and  rightly,  that  they  must 
do  their  own  work  if  they  could.  She  was  willing 
to  give  them  such  pecuniary  help  as  was  necessary. 
But  the  demand  for  troops  was  unreasonable.  Fight- 
ing men  abounded  in  Scotland.  "Why  should  Eng- 
lish troops  be  sent  to  do  their  fighting  for  them,  with 
the  certainty  of  earning  black  looks  rather  than 
thanks  ?  If  a  large  army  was  despatched  from 
France,  she  would  attack  it  with  her  fleet.  If  it 
landed,  she  would  send  an  English  army.  But  if  the 
Lords  of  the  Congregation  did  not  beat  the  handful 
of  Frenchmen  at  Leith  it  must  be  because  they  were 
either  weak  or  treacherous.  In  either  case  Elizabeth 
might  have  to  give  up  the  policy  preferred,  leave 
Scotland  alone,  and  fall  back  upon  an  alliance  with 
Philip. 

In  order  therefore  to  preserve  this  second  string 
to  her  bow,  and  to  let  the  Scotch  Anglophiles  see 
that  she  possessed  it,  she  reopened  negotiations  for 
the  Austrian  marriage.  Charles,  in  his  turn,  was 
invited  to  come  and  be  looked  at.    Much  as  she  dis- 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  35 

liked  the  idea  of  marriage,  she  knew  that  political 
reasons  might  make  it  necessary.  But,  come  what 
would,  she  would  never  marry  a  man  who  was  not 
to  her  fancy  as  a  man.  She  would  take  no  one  on 
the  strength  of  his  picture.  She  had  heard  that 
Charles  was  not  over- wise,  and  that  he  had  an  ex- 
traordinarily big  head,  "bigger  than  the  Earl  of 
Bedford's." 

The  Scotch  Lords,  finding  that  Elizabeth  was  de- 
termined to  have  some  solid  return  for  her  money, 
went  to  work  with  more  vigor.  They  proclaimed 
the  deposition  of  the  Kegent,  drove  her  from  Edin- 
burgh, and  besieged  her  and  her  French  garrison  in 
Leith.  But  this  burst  of  energy  was  soon  over. 
The  Protestants  were  more  ready  to  pull  down  im- 
ages and  harry  monks  than  make  campaigns.  Leith 
was  not  to  be  taken.  In  three  weeks  their  army 
dwindled  away,  and  the  little  disciplined  force  of 
Frenchmen  re-entered  Edinburgh. 

The  position  had  become  very  critical  for  Eliza- 
beth. A  French  army  of  16,000  men  was  daily  ex- 
pected at  Leith.  If  once  it  landed,  the  Congrega- 
tion would  be  crushed  ;  the  Hamiltons  would  make 
their  peace ;  and  the  disciplined  army  of  d'Elboeuf, 
swelled  by  hordes  of  hungry  Scotchmen,  would  pour 
over  the  Border,  and  proclaim  Mary  in  the  midst  of 


36  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  Catholic  population  which  ten  years  later  rose 
in  rebellion  under  the  northern  Earls. 

In  this  difficulty  the  Spanish  Ministers  in  the 
Netherlands  were  consulted.  If  Elizabeth  expelled 
the  garrison  at  Leith,  and  so  brought  upon  herself  a 
war  with  France,  could  she  depend  on  Philip's  assist- 
ance? The  reply  was  menacing.  Their  master, 
for  his  own  interest,  could  not  allow  the  Queen  of 
France  and  Scotland  to  enforce  her  title  to  the 
throne  of  England.  But  he  would  oppose  it  in  his 
own  way.  If  a  French  army  entered  England  from 
the  north,  a  Spanish  army  would  land  on  the  south 
coast.  Turning  to  her  own  Council  for  advice, 
Elizabeth  found  no  encouragement.  They  recom- 
mended her  to  take  Philip's  advice,  and  even  to  re- 
trace some  of  her  steps  in  the  matter  of  religion  in 
order  to  propitiate  him.  She  made  a  personal  appeal 
to  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to  take  the  command  of  the 
forces  on  the  Border.  But  he  declined  to  be  the 
instrument  of  a  policy  which  he  disapproved. 

"We  need  not  wonder  if  Elizabeth  hesitated  for  a 
while.  Some  of  these  councillors  were  not  too  well 
affected  to  her.  But  most  of  them  were  thoroughly 
loyal,  and  there  was  really  much  to  be  said  for  the 
more  cautious  policy.  She  herself  was  an  eminently 
cautious  politician,  inclined  by  nature  to  shrink  from 
risky  courses.    Never,  therefore,  in  her  whole  career 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  37 

did  she  give  greater  proof  of  her  large-minded  com- 
prehension of  the  main  lines  of  policy  which  it  be- 
hoved her  to  follow  than  when  she  determined  to 
override  the  opinions  of  so  many  prudent  advisers, 
and  expel  the  French  force  from  the  northern  king- 
dom. 

England  was  not  quite  in  the  helpless,  disabled 
position  that  it  pleased  the  Spaniards  to  believe. 
Twelve  months  of  careful  and  energetic  administra- 
tion had  already  done  wonders.  There  had  been 
wise  economy  and  wise  expenditure.  Money  had 
been  scraped  together,  and  though  there  was  still  a 
heavy  debt,  the  legacy  of  three  wasteful  reigns,  the 
confidences  of  the  Antwerp  money-lenders  had  re- 
vived, and  they  were  willing  to  advance  considerable 
sums.  A  fleet  had  been  equipped  and  manned; 
shiploads  of  arms  had  been  imported ;  forces  had 
been  collected  on  the  south  coasts.  The  Border 
garrisons  had  been  quietly  raised  in  strength  till 
they  were  able  to  furnish  an  expeditionary  force  at 
a  moment's  notice. 

The  smallest  energy  on  the  part  of  the  Congrega- 
tion might  have  finished  the  war  without  the  pres- 
ence of  an  English  force.  Elizabeth  had  a  right  to 
be  angry.  The  Scotch  Protestants  expected  to  have 
the  hardest  part  of  the  work  done  for  them,  and  to 
be  paid  for  executing  their  own  share  of  it.    Lord 


as  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

James  and  a  few  of  the  leaders  were  in  earnest,  but 
others  were  selfish  time-servers.  As  for  the  lower 
class,  their  Calvinism  was  still  new.  It  had  not  yet 
bred  that  fierce  spirit  of  independence  which  before 
long  was  to  outweigh  the  forces  of  nobles  and  gentry. 
But  if  the  weakness  of  the  Anglophile  party  was 
disappointing,  it  had  at  all  events  shown  that  Eliza- 
beth must  depend  upon  herself  to  ward  off  danger 
on  that  side ;  and  after  some  reasonable  hesitation 
she  decided  to  put  through  the  work  she  had  begun. 
It  says  much  for  the  patriotism  of  Elizabeth's 
Council  that  when  they  found  she  had  made  up  her 
mind  they  did  not  stand  sulkily  aloof,  but  co-opera- 
ted heartily  and  vigorously  in  carrying  out  the 
policy  they  had  opposed.  Norfolk  himself  accepted 
the  command  of  the  Border  army,  and  acted  through- 
out the  affair  with  fidelity  and  diligence.  He  was 
not  a  man  distinguished  by  ability  of  any  kind,  and 
^  the  actual  fighting  was  to  be  done  by  Lord  Grey,  a 
firm  and  experienced,  though  not  brilliant,  comman- 
der. But  that  the  natural  leader  of  the  Conserva- 
tive nobility  should  be  seen  at  the  head  of  Eliza- 
beth's army  was  a  useful  lesson  to  traitors  at  home 
and  enemies  abroad,  who  were  telling  each  other 
that  her  throne  was  insecure. 

An  agreement  between  the  English  Queen  and  the 
Lords  of  the  Congregation  was  drawn  up  (February 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  39 

27),  with  scrupulous  care  to  avoid  the  appearance  of 
dictation,  and  encroachment  which  had  gathered  all 
Scotland  to  Pinkie  Cleugh  *  eleven  years  before.  It 
set  forth  that  the  English  troops  were  entering  Scot- 
land for  no  other  object  than  to  assist  the  Duke  of 
Chatelherault,  the  heir-presumptive  to  the  throne, 
and  the  other  nobles,  to  drive  out  the  foreign  inva- 
ders. They  would  build  no  fortress.  There  was  no 
intention  to  prejudice  Mary's  lawful  authority. 
Cecil  appears  to  have  wanted  to  add  something 
about  "  Christ's  true  religion  " ;  but  Elizabeth  struck 
it  out.  Circumstances  might  compel  her  to  be  the 
protector  of  foreign  Protestants ;  but  neither  then 
nor  at  any  other  time  did  she  desire  to  pose  in  that 
character. 

A  month  later  (  March  28th  )  Lord  Grey  crossed 
the  Border,  and  marched  to  Leith.  The  siege  of  that 
place  proved  to  be  tedious.  The  Lords  of  the  Con- 
gregation gave  very  insufficient  assistance ;  and, 
when  an  assault  had  been  repulsed  with  heavy  loss, 
the  citizens  of  Edinburgh  would  not  receive  the 
wounded  into  their  houses.  At  last,  when  food  was 
running  short  in  the  town,  an  envoy  from  France 
arrived  with  power  to  treat  on  behalf  of  the  Queen 

*  Pinkie  Cleugh,  a  hill  near  the  town  of  Pinkie,  six  miles 
east  of  Edinburgh,  was  the  field  of  the  battle  where,  in  1547, 
the  English  under  Somerset  totally  defeated  the  Scots.  *'  It 
was  a  hunt,  not  a  battle." 


40  QUEJBN  ELIZABETH. 

of  Scots.  Her  mother,  the  Kegent,  had  died  during 
the  siege.  After  much  haggling  a  treaty  was  signed. 
E'o  French  troops  were  in  future  to  be  kept  in  Scot- 
land. Offices  of  State  were  to  be  held  only  by  na- 
tives. The  government  during  Mary's  absence  was 
to  be  vested  in  a  Council  of  twelve  noblemen ;  seven 
nominated  by  her  and  five  by  the  Estates.  Eliza- 
beth's title  to  the  kingdoms  of  England  and  Ireland 
was  recognized  (July,  1560). 

Such  was  the  Treaty  of  Edinburgh,  or  of  Leith,  as 
it  is  sometimes  called,  one  of  the  most  successful 
achievements  of  a  successful  reign.  It  was  gained 
by  wise  counsel  and  bold  resolve;  and  its  fruits, 
though  not  completely  fulfilling  its  promise,  were 
solid  and  valuable.  It  was  not  ratified  by  Mary. 
But  her  non-ratification  in  the  long  run  injured  no 
one  but  herself,  besides  putting  her  in  the  wrong, 
and  giving  Elizabeth  a  standing  excuse  for  treating 
her  as  an  enemy.  England  was  permanently  free 
from  the  menace  of  a  disciplined  French  army  in  the 
northern  kingdom,  l^othing  was  settled  in  the 
treaty  about  religion.  But  this  was  equivalent  to  a 
confirmation  of  the  violent  change  that  had  recently 
taken  place  ;  in  itself  a  guarantee  of  security  to  Eng- 
land. 

The  moral  effect  of  this  success  was  even  greater 
than  its  more  tangible  results.    It  had  been  very 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563..  41 

generally  believed,  at  all  events  abroad,  that  Eliza- 
beth was  tottering  on  her  throne ;  that  the  large 
majority  were  on  the  point  of  rising  to  depose  her  ; 
that,  wriggle  as  she  might,  she  would  find  she  was  a 
mere  protegee  of  Philip,  with  no  option  but  to  follow 
his  directions  and  square  her  policy  to  his.  What 
ever  small  basis  of  fact  underlay  this  delusive  esti- 
mate had  been  ridiculously  exaggerated  in  the  re- 
ports sent  to  Philip  by  his  ambassador  De  Quadra,  a 
man  who  evidently  paid  more  attention  to  hole-and- 
corner  tattle  than  to  the  broad  forces  of  English 
politics. 

All  these  imaginings  were  now  proved  to  be  vain. 
Elizabeth  had  shown  that  she  could  protect  herself 
by  her  own  strength  and  in  her  own  way.  She  had 
civilly  ignored  Philip's  advice,  or  rather  his  injunc- 
tions. She  had  thrown  down  the  glove  to  France, 
and  France  had  not  taken  it  up.  She  had  placed  in 
command  of  her  armies  the  very  man  whom  she  was 
supposed  to  fear,  and  he  had  done  her  bidding,  and 
done  it  well.  England  once  more  stood  before  Eu- 
rope as  an  independent  power,  able  to  take  care  of 
itself,  aid  its  friends,  and  annoy  its  enemies. 

It  is  true  that,  as  far  as  Elizabeth  personally  is 
concerned,  her  Scotch  policy  had  not  always  in  its 
execution  been  as  prompt  and  firm  as  could  be  de- 
sired.   Those  who  follow  it  in  greater  detail  than  is 


4:2  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

possible  here  will  find  much  in  it  that  is  irresolute  y 
and  even  vacillating.  This  defect  appears  through- 
out Elizabeth's  career,  though  it  will  always  be  ig- 
nored, as  it  ought  to  be  ignored,  by  those  who  reserve 
their  attention  for  what  is  worth  observing  in  the 
course  of  human  affairs. 

In  her  intellectual  grasp  of  European  politics  as  a 
whole,  and  of  the  interests  of  her  own  kingdom, 
Elizabeth  was  probably  superior  to  any  of  her  coun- 
sellors. No  one  could  better  than  she  think  out  the 
general  idea  of  a  political  campaign.  But  theoretical 
and  practical  qualifications  are  seldom,  if  ever,  com- 
bined in  equal  excellence.  Not  only  are  the  qualities 
themselves  naturally  opposed,  but  the  constant  ex- 
ercise of  either  increases  the  disparity.  Her  sex 
obliged  Elizabeth  to  leave  the  large  field  of  execution 
to  others.  Her  practical  gifts  therefore,  whatever 
they  were,  deteriorated  rather  than  advanced  as  she 
grew  older.  In  men,  who  every  day  and  every  hour 
of  the  day  are  engaged  in  action,  the  habit  of  prompt 
decision  and  persistence  in  a  course  once  adopted,  even 
if  it  be  not  quite  the  best,  is  naturally  formed  and 
strengthened.  It  is  a  habit  so  valuable,  so  indispen- 
sable to  continued  success,  that  in  practice  it  largely 
compensates  for  some  inferiority  in  conception  and 
design.  Elizabeth's  irresolution  and  vacillation  were 
therefore  a  consequence  of  her  position — that  of  an 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  43 

extremely^bje  and  well-informed  woman  called  upon . 
to  conduct  a  goyernment  in  wbiek  somuch  iiad  to^e 
decided  by  the  sovereign  at  her  own  discretion.  The 
abler  she  was,  the  more  disposed  to  make  her  will  felt, 
the  less  steadiness  and  consistency  in  action  were  to 
be  expected  from  her.  As  the  wife  of  a  king,  upon 
whom  the  final  responsibility  would  have  rested — her 
inferior  perhaps  in  intellect  and  knowledge,  but  with 
the  masculine  habit  of  making  up  his  mind  once  for 
all,  and  then  steering  a  straight  course — she  would 
have  been  a  wise  and  enlightened  adviser,  not  afraid 
of  consistently  maintaining  principles,  when  the  time, 
mode,  and  degree  of  their  application  rested  with  an- 
other. As  it  was,  Cecil  and  other  able  statesmen  who 
served  her  had  not  only  to  take  their  general  course  of 
policy  from  their  mistress — a  wise  course  upon  the 
whole,  wiser  sometimes  than  they  would  have  se- 
lected for  themselves — but  they  were  embarrassed, 
in  their  loyal  attempts  to  steer  in  the  direction  she 
had  prescribed,  by  her  nervous  habit  of  catching  at 
the  rudder-lines  whenever  a  new  doubt  occurred  to 
her  ingenious  mind,  or  some  private  feeling  of  the 
woman  perverted  the  clear  insight  of  the  sovereign. 
The  rivalry  between  France  and  Spain  had  hitherto 
been  the  safety  of  England.  Nothing  but  reasons  of 
religion  could  bring  those  two  powers  to  suspend 
their  political  quarrel.    This  danger  seemed  to  be 


44  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

averted  for  the  moment  by  the  temporary  ascendant 
of  the  Politiques  after  the  death  of  Francis  II.* 
But  the  fanaticism  of  both  Catholics  and  Huguenots 
was  too  bitter,  and  the  nobles  on  both  sides  were  too 
ambitious,  to  listen  to  the  dictates  of  reason  and  pa- 
triotism. The  immense  majority  of  the  nation,  ex- 
cept in  some  districts  of  the  south  and  south-west, 
was  profoundly  Catholic.  The  Huguenots,  strongest 
amongst  the  aristocracy  and  the  upper  bourgeoisie, 
daring  and  intolerant  like  the  Calvinists  everywhere, 
had  no  sooner  received  some  countenance  from  Cath- 
erine than  they  began  to  preach  against  the  Mass,  to 
demand  the  spoliation  of  the  Church,  the  suppression 
of  monasteries,  the  destruction  of  images,  and  the 
expulsion  of  the  Guises.  Where  they  were  strong 
enough  they  began  to  carry  out  their  programme. 
The  Guises,  on  the  other  hand,  forgetting  the  glory 
they  had  won  in  the  wars  against  Spain,  were  solic- 
iting the  patronage  of  Philip,  and  urging  him  to  put 
himself  at  the  head  of  a  crusade  against  the  heretics 
of  all  countries.  To  this  appeal  he  replied  by  form- 
ally summoning  Catherine  to  put  down  heresy  in 


*  Francis  II.,  King  of  France,  and  husband  of  Mary  Queen 
of  Scots,  died  December  5,  1560,  in  the  eighteenth  year  of  his 
age.  He  was  at  best  a  boy  king  and  had  reigned  but  little 
more  than  a  year,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  the  politicians 
managed  affairs  after  his  death. 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  45 

France.  An  accidental  collision  at  Yassv,*  in  which 
a  number  of  Huguenots  were  slain,  brought  on  the 
first  of  those  wars  of  religion  which  were  to  desolate 
France  for  the  next  thirty  years  (March,  1562).  Both 
factions,  equally  dead  to  patriotism,  opened  their 
country  to  foreigners.  The  Guises  called  in  the  forces 
of  Spain  and  the  Pope.  Conde  applied  to  Elizabeth 
and  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany. 

It  was  necessary  to  give  the  Huguenots  just  so  much 
help  as  would  prevent  them  from  being  crushed. 
Aggressive  in  appearance,  such  interference  was  in 
reality  legitimate  self-defence.  But  unfortunately 
neither  Elizabeth  nor  her  Council  had  forgotten 
Calais,  and  they  extorted  from  Conde  the  surrender 
of  Havre  as  a  pledge  for  its  restoration.  In  the  case 
of  Scotland  they  had  come,  as  we  have  seen,  to  rec- 
ognize that  to  establish  a  permanent  raw  f  by  hold- 
ing fortified  posts  on  the  territory  of  another  nation 
is  poor  statesmanship.  The  possession  of  Calais  was 
of  little  military  value  as  against  France.  It  is  true 
that  it  would  enable  England  to  make  sea  commu- 
nication between  Spain  and  the  Netherlands  very  in- 
secure, and  would  thus  give  Philip  a  powerful  motive 
for  desiring  to  stand  well  with  this  country.     But 

*  Vassy,  or  Wassy,  a  small  town  in  east  central  France,  is 
still  remembered  for  the  massacre  of  the  Huguenots  under  the 
Duke  of  Guise. 

t  Raw  spot,  sore, 


46  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

such  a  calculation  had  less  weight  with  Englishmen 
at  that  moment  than  pure  Jingoism — the  longing  to 
be  again  able  to  crow  over  their  French  enemy. 

The  occupation  of  Havre  (October,  1662)  *  gave  to 
the  Huguenot  cause  the  minimum  of  assistance,  and 
brought  upon  it  the  maximum  of  odium.  A  hollow 
reconciliation  was  soon  patched  up  between  the  rival 
factions  (March,  1563),  and  Elizabeth  was  summoned 
to  evacuate  Havre.  She  refused,  loudly  complain- 
ing of  the  Huguenots  for  deserting  her.  She  "  had 
come  to  the  quiet  possession  of  Havre  without  force 
or  any  other  unlawful  means,  and  she  had  good 
reason  to  keep  it."  Up  to  this  time  the  fiction  of 
peace  between  the  two  nations  had  been  maintained. 
It  was  now  open  war.  It  is  only  fair  to  Elizabeth 
to  say  that  all  her  Council  and  the  whole  nation 
were  even  hotter  than  she  was.  The  garrison  of 
Havre,  with  their  commander  Warwick,  were  eager 
for  the  fray.  They  would  "  make  the  French  cook 
cry  Cuck,"  they  would  "  spend  the  last  drop  of  their 
blood  before  the  French  should  fasten  a  foot  in  the 
town.  The  inhabitants  were  all  expelled,  and  the 
siege  began,  Conde  as  well  as  the  Catholics  appear- 

*  On  the  4th  of  October  Sir  Adrian  Poynings  landed  at 
Havre  with  3,000  men  and  took  possession  of  the  city.  The 
Earl  of  Warwick — Lord  Robert  Dudley's  elder  brother — had 
the  chief  command  of  the  expedition  and  was  expected  to 
follow  with  the  remaining  troops  at  his  convenience. 


FOREIGN  RELATIONS  :  1559-1563.  47 

ing  in  the  Queen-mother's  army.  After  a  valiant 
defence  the  English,  reduced  to  a  handful  of  men 
by  typhus,  sailed  away  (July  28,  1563).  Peace  was 
concluded  early  in  the  next  year  (April,  1564). 
Elizabeth  did  not  repeat  her  mistake.  Thencefor- 
ward to  the  end  of  her  reign  we  shall  find  her  care- 
fully cultivating  friendlj'-  relations  with  every  ruler 
of  France. 


48  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTEK  lY. 

ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  !    1559-1568. 

When  Elizabeth  mounted  the  throne,  it  was  taken 
for  granted  that  she  was  to  marry,  and  marry  with 
the  least  possible  delay.  This  was  expected  of  her, 
not  merely  because  in  the  event  of  her  dying  with- 
out issue  there  would  be  a  dispute  whether  the  claim 
of  Mary  Stuart  or  that  of  Catherine  Gray  was  to 
prevail,  but  for  a  more  general  reason.  The  rule  of 
an  unmarried  woman,  except  provisionally  during 
such  short  interval  as  might  be  necessary  to  provide 
her  with  a  husband,  was  regarded  as  quite  out  of  the 
question.  It  was  the  custom  for  the  husbands  of 
heiresses  to  step  into  the  property  of  their  wives  and 
stand  in  the  shoes,  so  to  speak  of  the  last  male  pro- 
prietor, in  order  to  perform  those  duties  which  could 
not  be  efficiently  performed  by  a  woman.  Eliza- 
beth's sister,  while  a  subject,  had  no  thought  of 
marrying.  But  her  accession  was  considered  by 
herself  and  every  one  else  to  involve  marriage.     If 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART :  1559-1568.      49 

the  nobles  of  England  could  have  foreseen  that  Eliza- 
beth would  elude  this  obligation,  she  would  probably 
never  have  been  allowed  to  mount  the  throne.  Her 
marriage  was  thought  to  be  as  much  a  matter  of 
course,  and  as  necessary,  as  her  coronation. 

Accordingly  the  House  of  Commons,  which  met 
a  month  after  her  accession,  immediately  requested 
her  to  select  a  husband  without  delay.  Her  declara- 
tion that  she  had  no  desire  to  change  her  state  was 
supposed  to  indicate  only  the  real  or  affected  coyness 
to  be  expected  from  a  young  lady.  There  was  no 
lack  of  suitors,  foreign  or  English.  The  Archduke 
Charles,  son  of  the  Emperor  and  cousin  of  Philip, 
would  have  been  welcomed  by  all  Catholics  and 
acquiesced  in  by  political  Protestants  like  Cecil. 
The  ardent  Protestants  were  eager  for  Arran,  and 
Cecil,  till  he  saw  it  was  useless,  worked  his  best  for 
him,  regardless  of  the  personal  sacrifice  his  mistress 
must  make  in  wedding  a  man  who  was  not  always 
quite  sane  and  eventually  became  a  confirmed  lunatic. 

]^ot  many  months  of  the  new  reign  had  passed 
before  it  began  to  be  suspected  that  Elizabeth's  par- 
tiality for  Lord  Robert  Dudley  had  something  to  do 
with  her  evident  distaste  for  all  her  suitors.  To  her 
Ministers  and  the  public  this  partiality  for  a  married 
man  became  a  cause  of  great  disquietude.  They  not 
unnaturally  feared  that  with  a  young  woman  who 


50  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

had  no  relations  to  advise  and  keep  watch  over  her, 
it  might  lead  to  some  disastrous  scandal  incompatible 
with  her  continuance  on  the  throne.  Marriage  with 
Dudley  at  this  time  was  out  of  the  question.  But 
within  four  months  of  her  accession,  the  Spanish 
ambassador  mentions  a  report  that  Dudley's  wife 
had  a  cancer,  and  that  the  Queen  was  only  waiting 
for  her  death  to  marry  him. 

About  the  humble  extraction  of  Elizabeth's  fa- 
vorite much  nonsense  was  talked  in  his  lifetime  by 
his  ill-wishers,  and  has  been  duly  repeated  since. 
He  was  as  well  born  as  most  of  the  peerage  of  that 
time ;  Very  few  of  whom  could  show  nobility  of  any 
antiquity  in  the  male  line.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk 
being  the  only  Duke  at  Elizabeth's  accession,  and 
in  possession  of  an  ancient  title,  was  looked  on  as 
the  head  of  his  order.  Yet  it  was  only  seventy-five 
years  since  a  Howard  had  first  reached  the  peerage 
in  consequence  of  having  had  the  good  fortune  to 
marry  the  heiress  of  the  Mowbrays.  Edmund  Dud- 
ley, Minister  of  Henry  YII.  and  father  of  JSTorth- 
umberland,  was  grandson  of  John,  fourth  Lord 
Dudley  ;  and  Northumberland,  by  his  mother's  side 
was  sole  heir  and  representative  of  the  ancient  barony 
of  De  L'Isle  which  title  he  bore  before  he  received 
his  earldom  and  dukedom.  In  point  of  wealth  and 
influence  indeed,  the  favorite  might  be  called  an 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.       51 

upstart.  The  younger  son  of  an  attainted  father, 
he  had  not  an  acre  of  land  or  a  farthing  of  money 
which  he  did  not  owe  either  to  his  wife  or  to  the 
generosity  of  Elizabeth.  This  it  was  that  moved 
the  sneers  and  ill-will  of  a  people  with  whom  no- 
bility has  always  been  a  composite  idea  implying  not 
only  birth  and  title,  but  territorial  wealth.  More- 
over his  grandfather,  though  of  good  extraction, 
was  a  simple  esquire,  and  had  risen  by  helping 
Henry  YII.  to  trample  on  the  old  nobility.  After 
his  fall  his  son  had  climbed  to  power  under  Henry 
YIIT.  and  Edward  YI.  in  the  same  way.  Lord 
Eobert  Dudley,  again,  had  to  begin  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ladder. 

No  one  will  claim  for  Elizabeth's  favorite  that  he 
was  a  man  of  distinguished  ability  or  high  character. 
He  had  a  fine  figure  and  a  handsome  face.  He  bore 
himself  well  in  manly  exercises.  His  manners  were 
attractive  when  he  wished  to  please.  To  these 
qualities  he  first  owed  his  favor  with  Elizabeth,  who 
was  never  at  any  pains  to  conceal  her  liking  for 
good-looking  men  and  her  dislike  of  ugly  ones. 
Finding  himself  in  favor,  and  inheriting  to  the  full 
the  pushing  audacity  of  his  father  and  grandfather, 
he  professed  for  the  Queen  a  love  which  he  certainly 
did  not  feel,  in  order  to  serve  his  soaring  ambition, 
i  Elizabeth,  it  is  my  firm  conviction,  never  loved 


52  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

Dudley  or  any  other  man,  in  any  sense  of  the  word, 
high  or  low.  She  had  neither  a  tender  heart  nor  a 
sensual  temperament.  But  she  had  a  more  than 
feminine  appetite  for  admiration  ;  and  the  more 
she  was,  unhappily  for  herself,  a  stranger  to  the 
emotion  of  love,  the  more  restlessly  did  she  desire  to 
be  thought  capable  of  inspiring  it.  She  was  there- 
fore easily  taken  in  by  Dudley's  professions,  and, 
though  she  did  not  care  for  him  enough  to  marry 
him,  she  liked  to  have  him  as  well  as  several  other 
handsome  men,  dangling  about  her,  "  like  her  lap- 
dog,"  to  use  her  own  expression.  Further  she 
believed — and  here  came  in  the  mischief — that  his 
devotion  to  her  person  would  make  him  a  specially 
faithful  servant. 

We  know,  though  Elizabeth  did  not,  that  in  1561, 
Dudley  was  promising  the  Spanish  ambassador  to  be 
Philip's  humble  vassal,  and  to  do  his  best  for  Catholi- 
cism, if  Philip  would  promote  his  marriage  with  the 
Queen  ;  that,  in  the  same  year,  he  was  offering  his 
services  to  the  French  Huguenots  for  the  same  con- 
sideration ;  that  at  one  time  he  posed  as  the  protec- 
tor of  the  Puritans,  while  at  another  he  was  intrigu- 
ing with  the  captive  Queen  of  Scots  ;  whom,  again, 
later  on,  he  had  a  chief  share  in  bringing  to  the 
block.  But  we  must  remember  that  very  few  states- 
men, English  or  foreign,  in  the  sixteenth  century 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      63 

could  have  shown  a  record  free  from  similar  blots. 
Those  who,  like  Elizabeth  and  Cecil,  were  undenia- 
bly actuated  on  the  whole  by  public  spirit,  or  by  any 
principle  more  respectable  than  pure  selfishness, 
never  hesitated  to  lie  or  play  a  double  game  when  it 
seemed  to  serve  their  turn.  William  of  Orange 
is  the  only  eminent  statesman,  as  far  as  I  know, 
against  whom  this  charge  cannot  be  made.  "When 
this  was  the  standard  of  honor  for  consistent  pol- 
iticians and  real  patriots,  what  was  to  be  expected 
of  lower  natures  ?  Dudley's  conduct  on  several 
occasions  was  bad  and  contemptible  ;  and  he  must  be 
judged  with  the  more  severity,  because  he  sinned  not 
only  against  the  code  of  duty  binding  on  the  ordi- 
nary man  and  citizen,  but  against  his  professions  of  a 
tender  sentiment  by  means  of  which  he  had  acquired 
his  special  influence.  I  have  said  that  he  was  not  a 
man  of  great  ability.  But  neither  was  he  the  empty- 
headed  incapable  trifler  that  some  writers  have  de- 
picted him.  He  was  not  so  judged  by  his  contem- 
poraries. That  Elizabeth,  because  she  liked  him, 
would  have  selected  a  man  of  notorious  incapacity 
to  command  her  armies  both  in  the  Netherlands 
and  when  the  Armada  was  expected,  is  one  of  those 
hypotheses  that  do  not  become  more  credible  by 
being  often  repeated.  Cecil  himself,  when  it  was 
not  a  question  of  the  marriage — of  which  he  was  a 


54  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

determined  opponent — regarded  him  as  a  useful 
servant  of  the  Queen.  I  do  not  doubt  that  Elizabeth 
estimated  his  capacity  at  about  its  right  value. 
What  she  overestimated  was  his  affection  for  her- 
self, and  consequently  his  trustworthiness.  Sov- 
ereigns— and  others — often  place  a  near  relative  in- 
an  important  post,  not  as  being  the  most  capable 
person  they  know,  but  as  most  likely  to  be  true  to 
them.  Elizabeth  had  no  near  relatives.  If  we  grant 
— as  we  must  grant — that  she  believed  in  Dudley's 
love,  we  cannot  wonder  that  she  employed  him  in 
positions  of  trust.  A  female  ruler  will  always  be 
liable  to  make  these  mistakes,  unless  her  Ministers 
and  captains  are  to  be  of  her  own  sex. 

On  the  3d  of  September,  1560,  two  months  after 
the  Treaty  of  Leith,  Elizabeth  told  De  Quadra  that 
she  had  made  up  her  mind  to  marry  the  Archduke 
Charles.  On  the  8th,  Lady  Kobert  Dudley  died  at 
Cumnor  Hall.  On  the  11th  Elizabeth  told  De 
Quadra  that  she  had  changed  her  mind.  Dudley 
neglected  his  wife,  and  never  brought  her  to  court. 
"We  cannot  doubt  that  he  fretted  under  a  tie  which 
stood  in  the  way  of  his  ambition.  Her  death  had 
been  predicted.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that 
he  should  have  been  suspected  of  having  caused  it. 
^Nevertheless,  not  a  particle  of  evidence  pointing  in 
that  direction  has  ever  been  produced,  and  it  seems 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      65 

most  probable  that  the  poor  deserted  creature  com- 
mitted suicide.  A  coroner's  jury  investigated  the 
case  diligently,  and,  it  would  seem,  with  some  ani- 
mus against  Foster,  the  owner  of  Cumnor  Hall,  but 
returned  a  verdict  of  accidental  death. 

Anyhow,  Dudley  was  now  free.  The  Scotch 
Estates  were  eagerly  pressing  Arran's  suit,  and  the 
English  Protestants  were  as  eagerly  backing  them. 
The  opportunity  was  certainly  unique.  Though 
nothing  was  said  about  deposing  Mary,  yet  nothing 
could  be  more  certain  than  that,  if  this  marriage 
took  place,  the  Queen  of  France  would  never  reign 
in  Scotland. 

At  her  wits'  end  how  to  escape  a  match  so  desirable 
for  the  Queen,  so  repulsive  to  the  woman,  Elizabeth 
had  announced  her  willingness  to  espouse  the  Arch- 
duke in  order  to  gain  a  short  breathing-time.  Vi- 
enna was  at  least  further  than  Edinburgh,  and  dif- 
ficulties were  sure  to  arise  when  details  began  to  be 
discussed.  At  this  moment,  by  the  sudden  death 
of  his  wife,  Dudley  became  marriageable.  If  Eliza- 
beth had  been  free  to  marry  or  not,  as  she  pleased, 
it  seems  to  me  in  the  highest  degree  improbable  that 
she  would  ever  have  thought  of  taking  Dudley. 
But  believing  that  a  husband  was  inevitable,  and  ex- 
pecting that  she  would  be  forced  to  take  some  one 
who  was  either  unknown  to  her  or  positively  dis- 


5a  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

tasteful,  it  was  most  natural  that  she  should  ask  her- 
self whether  it  was  not  the  least  of  evils  to  put  this 
cruel  persecution  to  an  end  by  choosing  a  man  whom 
at  least  she  admired  and  liked,  who  loved  her,  as  she 
thought,  for  her  own  sake,  and  would  be  as  obedient 
"  as  her  lap-dog."  When  nations  are  ruled  by 
women,  and  marriageable  women,  feelings  and 
motives  which  belong  to  the  sphere  of  private  life, 
and  should  be  confined  to  it,  are  apt  to  invade  the 
domain  of  politics.  If  Elizabeth's  subjects  expected 
their  sovereign  to  suppress  all  personal  feelings  in 
choosing  a  consort,  they  ought  to  have  established 
the  Salic  law.  No  woman,  queen  or  not  queen,  can 
be  expected  voluntarily  to  make  such  a  sacrifice. 
Her  happiness  is  too  deeply  involved. 

In  the  autumn,  then,  of  1560,  when  Elizabeth  had 
been  not  quite  two  years  on  the  throne,  she  seriously 
thought  of  marrying  Dudley.  It  is  difficult  to  say 
how  long  she  continued  to  think  of  it  seriously. 
With  him,  as  with  other  suitors,  she  went  on  coquet- 
ting when  she  had  perfectly  made  up  her  mind  that 
nothing  was  to  come  of  it.  Perhaps  we  shall  be 
right  in  saying  that,  as  long  as  there  was  any  ques- 
tion of  the  Archduke  Charles,  she  looked  to  Dudley 
as  a  possible  refuge.  This  would  be  till  about  the 
beginning  of  1568.  It  seems  to  be  always  assumed, 
as  a  matter  of  course,  that  Cecil  played  the  part  of 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      57 

Elizabeth's  good  genius  in  persistently  dissuading 
her  from  marrying  Dudley.  1  am  not  so  sure  of  this. 
If  she  had  been  a  wife  and  a  mother  many  of  her 
difficulties  would  have  at  once  disappeared,  and  the 
weakest  point  in  her  character  would  have  no  longer 
been  brought  out.  It  ended  in  her  not  marrying  at 
all.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  another  enemy 
of  Dudley,  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  showed  more  good 
sense  and  truer  patriotism  when  he  wrote  in  Oc- 
tober, 1560  :— 

"  I  wish  not  her  Majesty  to  linger  this  matter  of  so  great 
importance,  but  to  choose  speedily  ;  and  therein  to  follow  so 
much  her  own  affection  as  [that],  by  the  looking  upon  him 
whom  she  should  choose,  omnes  ejus  sensus  titillarentur*  ; 
which  shall  be  the  readiest  way,  with  the  help  of  God,  to 
bring  us  a  blessed  prince  which  shall  redeem  us  out  of  thral- 
dom. If  I  knew  that  England  had  other  rightful  inheritors  I 
would  then  advise  otherwise,  and  seek  to  serve  the  time  by  a 
husband's  choice  [seek  for  an  advantageous  political  alliance] . 
But  seeing  that  she  is  ultimum  refugium,  and  that  no  riches, 
friendship,  foreign  alliance,  or  any  other  present  commodity 
that  might  come  by  a  husband,  can  serve  our  turn,  without 
issue  of  her  body,  if  the  Queen  will  love  anybody,  let  her  love 
where  and  whom  she  lists,  so  much  thirst  I  to  see  her  love. 
And  whomsoever  she  shall  love  and  choose,  him  will  I  love, 
honor,  and  serve  to  the  uttermost." 

Perhaps  I  may  be  excused  for  expressing  the  opin- 
ion that  the  ideal  husband  for  Elizabeth,  if  it  had 
been  possible,  would  have  been  Lord  James  Stewart, 
afterwards  Earl  of  Moray.     Of  sufficient  capacity, 
*  All  her  senses  will  be  tickled, 


58  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

kindly  heart,  undaunted  resolution,  and  unswerving 
rectitude  of  purpose,  he  would  have  supplied  just 
those  elements  that  were  wanting  to  correct  her 
defects.  King  of  Scotland  he  perhaps  could  not  be. 
Regent  of  Scotland  he  did  become.  If  he  could,  at 
the  same  time,  have  been  Elizabeth's  husband,  the 
two  crowns  might  have,  in  the  next  generation,  been 
worn  by  a  Stewart  of  a  nobler  stock  than  the  son 
of  Mary  and  Darnley. 

When  Mary  Stuart,  on  the  death  of  her  husband 
Francis  II.,  returned  to  her  own  kingdom  (August, 
1561),  she  found  the  Scotch  nobles  sore  at  the  re- 
jection of  Arran's  suit.  Bent  on  giving  a  sovereign 
to  England,  in  one  way  or  another,  they  were  now 
ready,  Protestants  as  well  as  Catholics,  to  back 
Mary's  demand  that  she  should  be  recognized  as 
Elizabeth's  heir-presumptive.  To  this  the  English 
Queen  could  not  consent,  for  the  very  sufficient 
reason,  that  not  only  would  the  Catholic  party  be 
encouraged  to  hold  together  and  give  trouble,  but 
the  more  bigoted  and  desperate  members  of  it  would 
certainly  attempt  her  life,  lest  she  should  disappoint 
Mary's  hopes  by  marrying.  "  She  was  not  so  fool- 
ish," she  said,  "  as  to  hang  a  winding-sheet  before 
her  eyes  or  make  a  funeral  feast  whilst  she  was 
alive,"  but  she  promised  that  she  would  neither  do 
anything  nor  allow  anything  to  be  done  by  Parlia- 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      59 

ment  to  prejudice  Mary's  title.  To  this  undertak- 
ing she  adhered  long  after  Mary's  hostile  conduct 
had  given  ample  justification  for  treating  her  as  an 
enemy. 

Openly  Mary  was  claiming  nothing  but  the  suc- 
cession. In  reality  she  cared  little  for  a  prospect  so 
remote  and  uncertain.  What  she  was  scheming  for 
was  to  hurl  Elizabeth  from  her  throne.  This  was 
an  object  for  which  she  never  ceased  to  work  till 
her  head  was  off  her  shoulders.  Her  aims  were 
more  sharply  defined  than  those  of  Elizabeth,  and 
she  was  remarkably  free  from  that  indecision  which 
too  often  marred  the  action  of  the  English  Queen. 
In  ability  and  information  she  was  not  at  all  inferior 
to  Elizabeth  ;  in  promptitude  and  energy  she  was 
her  superior.  These  masculine  qualities  might  have 
given  her  the  victory  in  the  bitter  duel,  but  that,  in 
the  all-important  domain  of  feeling,  her  sex  indom- 
itably asserted  itself,  and  weighted  her  too  heavily 
to  match  the  superb  self-control  of  Elizabeth.  She 
could  love  and  she  could  hate  ;  Elizabeth  had  only 
likes  and  dislikes,  and  therefore  played  the  cooler 
game.  When  Mary  really  loved,  which  was  only 
once,  all  selfish  calculations  were  flung  to  the  winds ; 
she  was  ready  to  sacrifice  everything,  and  not  count 
the  cost — body  and  soul,  crown  and  life,  interest 
and  honor.     When   she  hated,  which  was  often, 


60  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

rancor  was  apt  to  get  the  better  of  prudence. 
And  so  at  the  fatal  turning-point  of  her  career, 
when  mad  hate  and  madder  love  possessed  her  soul, 
she  went  down  before  her  great  rival  never  to  rise 
again.  Here  was  a  woman  indeed.  And  if,  for 
that  reason,  she  lost  the  battle  in  life,  for  that 
reason  too  she  still  disputes  it  from  the  tomb.  She 
has  always  had,  and  always  will  have,  the  ardent 
sympathy  of  a  host  of  champions,  to  whom  the 
"  fair  vestal  throned  by  the  west "  is  a  mere  poli- 
tician, sexless,  cold-blooded,  and  repulsive. 

In  1564  Mary,  as  yet  fancy-free,  was  seeking  to 
match  herself  on  purely  political  grounds.  She 
was  not  so  fastidious  as  Elizabeth,  for  she  does  not 
seem  to  have  troubled  herself  at  all  about  personal 
qualities,  if  a  match  seemed  otherwise  eligible. 
The  Hamiltons  pressed  Arran  upon  her.  But  he 
was  a  Protestant.  He  was  not  heir  to  any  throne 
but  that  of  Scotland,  and,  though  a  powerful  family 
in  Scotland,  the  Hamiltons  could  give  her  no  help 
elsewhere.  Philip,  who,  now  that  the  Guises  had 
become  his  proteges,  was  less  jealous  of  her  de- 
signs, wished  her  to  marry  his  cousin,  the  Archduke 
Charles  of  Austria.  But  this  prince,  whom  Eliza- 
beth professed  to  find  too  much  of  a  Catholic,  was, 
in  the  eyes  of  Mary  and  her  more  bigoted  co-relig- 
ionists, too  nearly   a  Lutheran  j  and  she  doubted 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      61 

whether  Philip  cared  enough  for  him  to  risk  a  war  for 
establishing  him  and  herself  upon  the  English  throne. 
For  this  reason  the  husband  on  whom  she  had  set 
her  heart  was  Don  Carlos,  Philip's  own  son,  a  sort 
of  wild  beast.  But  Philip  received  her  overtures 
doubtfully ;  the  fact  being  that  he  could  not  trust 
Don  Carlos,  whom  he  eventually  put  to  death. 
Catherine  de  Medici  loved  Mary  as  little  as  she  did 
the  other  Guises,  but  the  prospect  of  the  Spanish 
match  filled  her  with  such  terror  that  she  proposed 
to  make  the  Scottish  Queen  her  daughter-in-law  a 
second  time  by  a  marriage  with  Charles  IX.,  a  lad 
under  thirteen,  if  she  would  wait  two  years  for  him. 
On  the  other  hand,  Elizabeth  impressed  upon 
Mary  that,  unless  she  married  a  member  of  some 
Reformed  Church,  the  English  Parliament  would 
certainly  demand  that  her  title  to  the  succession, 
whatever  it  was,  should  be  declared  invalid.  The 
House  of  Commons  was  strongly  Protestant,  and 
had  with  difficulty  been  prevented  from  addressing 
the  Queen  in  favor  of  the  succession  of  Lady  Cath- 
erine  Grey.  Apart  from  religion  there  was  deep 
irritation  against  the  whole  Scotch  nation.  Sir 
Ralph  Sadler,  who  had  been  much  employed  in 
Scotland,  denounced  them  as  "  false,  beggarly,  and 
perjured,  whom  the  very  stones  in  the  English 
streets  would  rise  against."     When  Elizabeth  was 


62  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

dangerously  ill  in  October,  1562,  the  Council  dis- 
cussed whom  they  should  proclaim  in  the  event  of 
her  death.  Some  were  for  the  will  of  Henry  YIII. 
and  Catherine  Grey.  Others,  sick  of  female  rulers, 
were  for  taking  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  a  descend- 
ant of  the  Duke  of  Clarence.  ISTone  were  for  Mary 
or  Darnley.  Mary's  chief  friends — Montagu,  ISTorth- 
umberland,  Westmoreland,  and  Derby — were  not  on 
the  Council. 

Parliament  and  the  Council  being  against  her, 
Mary  could  not  afford  to  quarrel  with  the  Queen. 
Elizabeth  told  her  that  she  would  regard  a  marriage 
with  any  Spanish,  Austrian,  or  French  prince  as  a 
declaration  of  war.  Help  from  those  quarters  was 
far  away,  and  at  the  mercy  of  winds  and  waves  :  the 
Border  fortresses  were  near,  and  their  garrisons  al- 
ways ready  to  march.  Besides,  whichever  of  the  two 
she  might  obtain — Charles  IX.  or  the  Archduke — 
she  drove  the  other  into  the  arms  of  Elizabeth. 

But  there  was  another  possible  husband  who  had 
crossed  her  mind  from  time  to  time ;  not  a  prince 
indeed,  yet  of  royal  extraction  in  the  female  line,  and, 
what  was  more,  not  without  pretensions  to  that 
very  succession  which  she  coveted.  Henry  Lord 
Darnley,  son  of  Matthew  Stuart,  Earl  of  Lennox, 
was,  by  his  father's  side,  of  the  royal  family  of  Scot- 
land, while  his  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Margaret 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.       63 

Tudor,  sister  of  Henry  YIIL.  by  her  second  husband, 
the  Earl  of  Angus.  Born  and  brought  up  in  England, 
where  his  father  had  been  long  an  exile,  he  was  reck- 
oned as  an  Englishmen,  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
many  lawyers,  was  essential  as  a  qualification  for 
the  crown.  He  was  also  a  Catholic,  and  if  Elizabeth 
had  died  at  this  time,  it  was  perhaps  Darnley,  rather 
than  Mary,  whom  the  Catholics  would  have  tried  to 
place  on  the  throne.  Elizabeth  had  promised  that, 
if  Mary  would  marry  an  English  nobleman,  she  would 
do  her  best  to  get  Mary's  title  recognized  by  Parlia- 
ment. To  Elizabeth,  therefore,  Mary  now  turned, 
with  the  request  that  she  would  point  out  such  a 
nobleman,  not  without  a  hope  that  she  would  name 
Darnley  (March,1564).  But,  to  Mary's  mortification, 
she  formally  recommended  Lord  Robert  Dudley. 

This  recommendation  has  often  been  treated  as  if 
it  was  a  sorry  joke  perpetrated  by  Elizabeth,  who 
had  never  any  intention  of  furthering,  or  even  per- 
mitting, such  a  match.  But  nothing  is  more  certain 
than  that  Elizabeth  was  most  anxious  to  bring  it 
about ;  and  it  affords  a  decisive  proof  that  her  feeling 
for  Dudley,  whatever  name  she  herself  may  have 
put  to  it,  was  not  what  is  usually  called  love.  Cecil 
and  all  her  most  intimate  advisers  entertained  no 
doubt  that  she  was  sincere.  She  undertook,  if  Marv 
woulcl  accept  Dudley,  to  make  him  a  duke ;  and,  iu 


64  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  meantime,  she  created  him  Earl  of  Leicester. 
She  regarded  him,  so  she  told  Mary's  envoy  Melville, 
as  her  brother  and  her  friend  ;  if  he  was  Mary's  hus- 
band she  would  have  no  suspicion  or  fear  of  any 
usurpation  before  her  death,  being  assured  that  he 
was  so  loving  and  trusty  that  he  would  never  permit 
anything  to  be  attempted  during  her  time.  "  But," 
she  said,  pointing  to  Darnley,  who  was  present,  "you 
like  better  yonder  long  lad.  "  Her  suspicion  was 
correct.  Melville  had  secret  instructions  to  procure 
permission  for  Darnley  to  go  to  Scotland.  How- 
ever, he  answered  discreetly  that  ''  no  woman  of 
spirit  could  choose  such  an  one  who  more  resembled 
a  woman  than  a  man." 

How  was  Elizabeth  to  be  persuaded  to  let  Darn- 
ley leave  England  ?  There  was  only  one  way  to 
disarm  suspicion :  Mary  declared  herself  ready  to 
marry  Leicester  (January,  1665).  Darnley  imme- 
diately obtained  leave  of  absence  for  three  months 
ostensibly  to  recover  the  forfeited  Lennox  property. 
In  Scotland  the  purpose  of  his  coming  was  not  mis- 
taken, and  it  roused  the  Protestants  to  fury.  The 
Queen's  chapel,  the  only  place  in  the  Lowlands  where 
Mass  was  said,  was  beset.  Her  priests  were  mobbed 
and  maltreated.  Moray,  who  till  lately  had  sup- 
ported his  sister  with  such  loyalty  and  energy  that 
Knox  had  quarrelled  with  him.  prepared,  with  the 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      65 

other  Lords  of  the  Congregation,  for  resistance. 
Elizabeth,  and  Cecil  also,  had  been  completely  over- 
reached. A  prudent  player  sometimes  gets  into 
difficulties  by  attributing  equal  prudence  to  a  daring 
and  reckless  antagonist.  Elizabeth,  as  a  patriotic 
ruler,  desired  nothing  but  peace  and  security  for 
her  own  kingdom.  If  she  could  have  that,  she  had 
no  wish  to  meddle  with  Scotland.  Mary,  caring 
nothing  for  the  interests  of  her  subjects,  was  facing 
civil  war  with  a  light  heart ;  and,  for  the  chance  of 
obtaining  the  more  brilliant  throne,  was  ready  to 
risk  her  own. 

Undeterred  by  Elizabeth's  threats,  Mary  married 
Darnley  (July  29,  1565).  Moray  and  Argyll,  hav- 
ing obtained  a  promise  of  assistance  from  England, 
took  arms  ;  but  most  of  the  Lords  of  the  Congrega- 
tion showed  themselves  even  more  powerless  or 
perfidious  than  they  had  been  five  years  before. 
Morton,  Ruthven,  and  Lindsay,  stoutest  of  Protes- 
tants, were  related  to  Darnley,  and  were  gratified 
by  the  elevation  of  their  kinsman.  Moray  failed  to 
elicit  a  spark  of  spirit  out  of  the  priest-baiting  citi- 
zens of  Edinburgh,  and  the  Queen,  riding  steel  cap 
on  head  and  pistols  at  saddle-bow,  chased  him  into 
England.  Lord  Bedford,  who  was  in  command  at 
Berwick,  could  have  stepped  across  the  Border  and 
scattered  her  undisciplined  array  without  diffieulty. 


eQ  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

He  implored  Elizabeth  to  let  him  do  it ;  offered  to 
do  it  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  be  disavowed. 
But  he  found,  to  his  mortification,  that  she  had  been 
playing  a  game  of  brag.  She  had  hoped  that  a 
threatening  attitude  would  stop  the  marriage.  But 
as  it  was  an  accomplished  fact  she  was  not  going 
to  draw  the  sword. 

This  was  shabby  treatment  *  of  Moray  and  his 
friends,  and  to  some  of  her  councillors  it  seemed  not 
only  shameful  but  dangerous  to  show  the  white 
feather.  But  judging  from  the  course  of  events, 
Elizabeth's  policy  was  the  safe  one.  The  English 
Catholics — some  of  them  at  all  events,  as  will  be  ex- 
plained presently — were  becoming  more  discontented 
and  dangerous.  The  northern  earls  were  known  to 
be  disaffected.  Mary  believed  that  in  every  coun- 
ty in  England  the  Catholics  had  their  organization 
and  their  leaders,  and  that,  if  she  chose,  she  could 
march  to  London.  ISTo  doubt  she  was  much  de- 
ceived. In  reluctance  to  resort  to  violence  and  re- 
spect for  constituted  authority,  England,  even  north 
of  the  Humber,  was  at  least  two  centuries  ahead  of 
Scotland,  and,  if  she  had  come  attended  by  a  horde 
of  savage  Highlanders  and  Border  ruffians, "  the  very 
stones  in  the  streets  would  have  risen  against  them." 
It  was  Elizabeth's  rule — and  a  very  good  rule  too — 
never  to  engage  in  a  war   if  she  could   avoid  it. 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      67 

From  this  rule  she  could  not  be  drawn  to  swerve 
either  by  passion  or  ambition,  or  that  most  fertile 
source  of  fighting,  a  regard  for  honor.  All  the  old 
objections  to  an  invasion  of  Scotland  still  subsisted 
in  full  strength,  and  were  reinforced  by  others.  It 
was  better  to  wait  for  an  attack  which  might  never 
come  than  go  half-way  to  meet  it.  An  invasion  of 
Scotland  might  drive  the  northern  earls  to  declare 
for  Mary,  which,  unless  compelled  to  choose  sides, 
they  might  never  do.  Some  people  are  more  per- 
turbed by  the  expectation  and  uncertainty  of  dan- 
ger than  by  its  declared  presence.  Not  so  Elizabeth. 
Smoldering  treason  she  could  take  coolly  as  long  as 
it  only  smoldered.  As  for  the  betrayal  of  Scotch 
refugees,  Elizabeth  never  allowed  the  private  inter- 
ests of  her  own  subjects,  much  less  those  of  foreign- 
ers, to  weigh  against  the  interests  of  England. 
Moray,  one  of  the  most  magnanimous  and  self-sacri- 
ficing of  statesmen,  evidently  felt  that  Elizabeth's 
course  was  wise,  if  not  exactly  chivalrous.  He 
submitted  to  her  public  rebuke  without  publicly 
contradicting  her,  and  waited  patiently  in  exile  till 
it  should  be  convenient  for  her  to  help  him  and  his 
cause.  Mary,  too,  though  elated  by  her  success, 
and  never  abandoning  her  intention  to  push  it 
further,  found  it  best  to  halt  for  a  while.  Philip 
wrote  to  her  that  he  would  help  her  secretly  with 


68  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

money  if  Elizabeth  attacked  her,  but  not  otherwise, 
and  warned  her  against  any  premature  clutch  at 
the  English  crown.  Elizabeth's  seeming  tameness 
could  hardly  have  received  a  more  complete  justifi- 
cation. 

Mary  had  determined  to  espouse  Darnley,  before 
she  had  set  eyes  on  him,  for  purely  political  reasons. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  she  ever  cared  for  him. 
It  is  more  likely,  as  Mr.  Froude  suggests,  that  for  a 
great  political  purpose  she  was  doing  an  act  which 
in  itself  she  loathed.  A  woman  of  twenty- two,  al- 
ready a  widow,  mature  beyond  her  years,  exception- 
ally able,  absorbed  in  the  great  game  of  politics,  and 
accustomed  to  admiration,  was  not  likely  to  care  for 
a  raw  lad  of  nineteen,  foolish,  ignorant,  ill-condi- 
tioned, vicious,  and  without  a  single  manly  quality. 
One  man  we  know  she  did  love  later  on — loved  pas- 
sionately and  devotedly,  no  slim  girl-faced  youngster, 
but  the  fierce,  stout-limbed,  dare-devil  Both  well ; 
and  Bothwell  gradually  made  his  way  to  her  heart 
by  his  readiness  to  undertake  every  desperate  serv- 
ice she  required  of  him.  What  Mary  admired,  nay 
envied,  in  the  other  sex  was  the  stout  heart  and  the 
strong  arm.  She  loved  herself  to  rough  it  on  the 
war-path.     She  surprised  Eandolph  *  by  her  spirit : 

*  Thomas  Eandolph  (1523-1590)  was  the  English  ambassa- 
dor.   "  On  the  20th  of  April,  1563,  he  was  again  sent  to  Scot- 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.       69 

— *'  Never  thought  I  that  stomach  to  be  in  her  that 
I  find.  She  repented  nothing  but,  when  the  Lords 
and  others  came  in  the  morning  from  the  watches, 
that  she  was  not  a  man,  to  know  what  life  it  was  to 
lie  all  night  in  the  fields  or  to  walk  upon  the  cause- 
way with  a  jack  and  a  knapscap,  a  Glasgow  buckler 
and  a  broadsword."  "  She  desires  much,"  says 
Knollys,  "  to  hear  of  hardiness  and  valiancy,  com- 
mending by  name  all  approved  hardy  men  of  her 
country,  although  they  be  her  enemies  ;  and  she  con- 
cealeth  no  cowardice  even  in  her  friends."  Valuable 
to  Mary  as  a  man  of  action,  Both  well  was  not  worth 
much  as  an  adviser.  For  advice  she  looked  to  the 
Italian  Rizzio,  in  whom  she  confided  because,  with 
the  detachment  of  a  foreigner,  he  regarded  Scotch 
ambitions,  animosities,  and  intrigues  only  as  so  much 
material  to  be  utilized  for  the  purpose  of  the  com- 
bined onslaught  on  Protestantism  which  the  Pope 
was  trying  to  organize.  Bothwell  was  at  this  time 
thirty,  and  Rizzio,  according  to  Lesley,  fifty. 

In  spite  of  all  the  prurient  suggestions  of  writers 
who  have  fastened  on  the  story  of  Mary's  life  as  on 
a  savory  morsel,  there  is  no  reason  whatever  for 
thinking  that  she  was  a  woman  of  a  licentious  dis- 
position, and  there  is  strong  evidence  to  the  contrary. 

land  with  the  special  aim  of  entangling  the  Scottish  queen  in 
negotiations  for  an  English  marriage."— i>ic^.  Nat.  Biog. 


70  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

There  was  never  anything  to  her  discredit  in  France. 
Her  behavior  in  the  affair  of  Chastelard  was  irre- 
proachable. The  charge  of  adultery  with  Eizzio  is 
dismissed  as  unworthy  of  belief  even  by  Mr.  Froude, 
the  severest  of  her  judges.  Both  well  indeed  she 
loved,  and,  like  many  another  woman  who  does  not 
deserve  to  be  called  licentious,  she  sacrificed  her  rep- 
utation to  the  man  she  loved.  But  the  most  con- 
clusive proof  that  she  was  no  slave  to  appetite  is  af- 
forded by  her  nineteen  years'  residence  in  England, 
which  began  when  she  was  only  twenty-five.  Dur- 
ing almost  the  whole  of  that  time  she  was  mixing 
freely  in  the  society  of  the  other  sex,  with  the  fullest 
opportunity  for  misconduct  had  she  been  so  inclined. 
It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  she  was  fettered  by  any 
scruples  of  religion  or  morality.  Yet  no  charge  of 
unchastity  is  made  against  her. 

When  Darnley  found  that  his  wife,  though  she 
..  conferred  on  him  the  title  of  King,  did  not  procure 
for  him  the  crown  matrimonial  or  allow  him  the 
smallest  authority,  he  gave  free  vent  to  his  anger. 
No  less  angry  were  his  kinsmen,  Morton,  Ruthven, 
and  Lindsay.  They  had  deserted  the  Congregation 
in  the  expectation  that  when  Darnley  was  King  they 
would  be  all-powerful.  Instead  of  this  they  found 
themselves  neglected  ;  while  the  Queen's  confidence 
was  given  to  Catholics  and  to  Both  well,  who,  though 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      71 

nominally  a  Protestant,  always  acted  with  the  Catho- 
lics. The  Protestant  seceders  had  in  fact  fallen  be- 
tween two  stools.  It  was  against  Kizzio  that  their 
rage  burnt  fiercest.  Bothwell  was  only  a  bull- 
headed,  blundering  swordsman.  Eizzio  was  doubly 
detestable  to  them  as  the  brain  of  the  Queen's  clique 
and  as  a  low-born  foreigner.  Rizzio,  therefore,  they 
determined  to  remove  in  the  time-honored  Scottish 
fashion.  Notice  of  the  day  fixed  for  the  murder  was 
sent  to  the  banished  noblemen  in  England,  so  that 
they  might  appear  in  Edinburgh  immediately  it  was 
accomplished.  Randolph,  the  English  ambassador, 
and  Bedford,  who  commanded  on  the  Border,  were 
also  taken  into  the  secret,  and  they  communicated  it 
to  Cecil  and  Leicester. 

It  is  unnecessary  here  to  repeat  the  well-known 
story  of  the  murder  of  Rizzio.  It  was  part  of  a  large 
scheme  for  bringing  back  the  exiled  Protestant  lords, 
closing  the  split  in  the  Protestant  party,  and  securing 
the  ascendancy  of  the  Protestant  religion.  At  first 
it  appeared  to  have  succeeded.  Bedford  wrote  to 
Cecil  that  "  everything  would  now  go  well."  But 
Mary,  by  simulating  a  return  of  wifely  fondness, 
managed  to  detach  her  weak  husband  from  his  con- 
federates. By  his  aid  she  escaped  from  their  hands. 
Bothwell  and  her  Catholic  friends  gathered  round  her 
in  arms.   In  a  few  days  she  re-entered  Edinburgh  in 


72  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

triumph,  and  Kizzio's  murderers  had  to  take  refuge 
in  England. 

But  if  the  Protestant  stroke  had  failed,  Mary  was 
obliged  to  recognize  that  her  plan  for  re-establishing 
the  Catholic  ascendancy  in  Scotland  could  not  be 
rushed  in  the  high-handed  way  she  had  proposed  as 
a  mere  preliminary  to  the  more  important  subjuga- 
tion of  England.  At  the  very  moment  when  she 
seemed  to  stand  victorious  over  all  opposition,  the 
ground  had  yawned  under  her  feet,  and,  while  she 
was  dreaming  of  dethroning  Elizabeth,  she  had  found 
herself  a  helpless  captive  in  the  hands  of  her  own 
subjects.  The  lesson  was  a  valuable  one,  and  if  she 
could  profit  by  it  her  prospects  had  never  been  so 
good.  The  barbarous  outrage  of  which,  in  the  sixth 
month  of  pregnancy,  she  had  been  the  object  could 
not  but  arouse  widespread  sympathy  for  her.  She 
had  extricated  herself  from  her  difficulties  with 
splendid  courage  and  cleverness.  The  loss  of  such 
an  adviser  as  Eizzio  was  really  a  stroke  of  luck  for  her. 
All  she  had  to  do  was  to  abandon,  or  at  all  events 
postpone,  her  design  of  re-establishing  the  Catholic 
religion  in  Scotland,  and  to  discontinue  her  intrigues 
against  Elizabeth. 

Her  prospects  in  England  were  still  further  im- 
proved when  she  gave  birth  to  a  son  (June  19, 1566). 
Once  more  there  was  an  heir-male  to  the  old  royal 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      73 

line,  and,  as  Elizabeth  continued  to  evade  marriage, 
most  people  who  were  not  fierce  Protestants  began 
to  think  it  would  be  more  reasonable  and  safe  to 
abide  by  the  rule  of  primogeniture  than  by  the  will 
of  Henry  YIII.,  sanctioned  though  it  was  by  Act  of 
Parliament.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  was 
the  opinion  and  intention  of  Elizabeth,  though  she 
strongly  objected  to  having  anything  settled  during 
her  own  lifetime.  But  she  had  herself  gone  a  long 
way  towards  settling  it  by  her  treatment  of  Mary's 
only  serious  competitor.  Catherine  Grey  had  con- 
tracted a  secret  marriage  with  the  Earl  of  Hertford, 
son  of  the  Protector  Somerset.  Her  pregnancy 
necessitated  an  avowal.  The  clergyman  who  had 
married  them  was  not  forthcoming,  and  Hertford's 
sister,  the  only  witness,  was  dead.  Elizabeth  chose 
to  disbelieve  their  story,  though  she  would  not  have 
been  able  to  prove  when,  where,  or  by  whom  her 
own  father  and  mother  had  been  married.  She  had 
a  right  to  be  angry ;  but  when  she  sent  the  unhappy 
couple  to  the  Tower,  and  caused  her  tool.  Archbishop 
Parker,  to  pronounce  the  union  invalid  and  its  off- 
spring illegitimate,  she  was  playing  Mary's  game. 
The  House  of  Commons  elected  in  1563  was  still  un- 
dissolved. It  was  strongly  Protestant,  and  it  favored 
Catherine's  title  even  after  her  disgrace.  In  its 
second  session,  in  the  autumn  of  1566,  it  made  a  de- 


74  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

termined  effort  to  compel  Elizabeth  to  marry,  and 
in  the  meanwhile  to  recognize  Catherine  as  the  heir- 
presumptive.  The  zealous  Protestants  knew  well 
that  the  Peers  were  in  favor  of  the  Stuart  title,  and 
they  feared  that  a  new  House  of  Commons  might 
agree  with  the  Peers.  To  get  rid  of  their  pertinacity 
Elizabeth  dissolved  Parliament,  not  without  strong 
expressions  of  displeasure  (Jan.  2,  1567).  Cecil  him- 
self earned  the  thanks  of  Mary  for  his  attitude  on  this 
occasion.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  he  dreaded  her 
succession  ;  but  he  saw  which  way  the  tide  was  run- 
ning, and  he  thought  it  prudent  to  swim  with  it. 
It  was  at  this  moment  that  Mary  flung  away  all 
her  advantage,  and  entered  on  the  fatal  course  which 
led  to  her  ruin.  Her  loathing  for  Darnley,  her  fierce 
desire  to  avenge  on  him  the  insults  and  outrage  she 
had  suffered,  left  no  room  in  heart  or  mind  for  con- 
siderations of  policy.  She  would  have  been  glad  to 
obtain  a  divorce.  But  the  Catholic  Church  does  not 
grant  divorce  for  misconduct  after  marriage.  Some 
pretext  must  be  found  for  alleging  that  the  marriage 
was  null  from  the  beginning.  This  did  not  suit  Mary. 
It  would  have  made  her  son  illegitimate,  and  would 
have  placed  her  in  exactly  the  position  of  Catherine 
Grey.  A  mere  separation  a  toro  would  not  have 
suited  her  any  better,  for  it  would  not  have  enabled 
her  to  contract  another  marriage. 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      Y5 

When  Mary's  reliance  on  Bothwell  grew  into  at- 
tachment, when  her  attachment  warmed  into  love,  it 
is  impossible  to  fix  with  any  exactness.  Her  infatua- 
tion presented  itself  to  him  as  a  grand  opening  for 
his  daring  ambition.  A  notorious  profligate,  he 
loved  her — if  the  word  is  to  be  so  degraded — as  much 
or  as  little  as  he  had  loved  twenty  other  women. 
What,  however,  he  desired  in  her  case,  was  marriage. 
A  more  sensible  man  would  have  foreseen  that  mar- 
riage would  mean  certain  ruin  for  himself  and  the 
Queen.  But  he  was  accustomed  to  despise  all  diffi- 
culties in  his  path,  being  intellectually  incapable  of 
measuring  them,  and  believing  in  nothing  but  au- 
dacity and  brute  force.  Husband  of  the  Queen,  why 
should  he  not  be  master  of  the  kingdom  ?  Why  not 
King  ?  When  such  an  idea  had  once  occurred  to 
Bothwell,  Darnley's  expectancy  of  life  would  be 
much  the  same  as  that  of  a  calf  in  the  presence  of 
the  butcher. 

The  wretched  victim  had  alienated  all  his  friends 
among  the  nobility.  Some  owed  him  a  deadly 
grudge  for  his  treachery.  Others  had  been  offended 
by  his  insolence.  To  all  he  was  an  incumbrance 
and  a  nuisance.  Several,  therefore,  of  the  leading 
personages  were  more  or  less  engaged  in  the  com- 
pact for  putting  him  out  of  the  way.  Moray,  Argyll, 
and  Maitland  offered  to  assist  in  ridding  Mary  of 


^Q  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

her  husband  by  way  of  a  Protestant  sentence  of  di- 
vorce, on  condition  that  Morton  and  his  friends  in 
exile  should  be  pardoned  and  recalled.  The  bargain 
was  struck,  and  Mary  assented  to  it.  I^othing  was 
said  about  murder.  'No  one  had  any  interest  in 
murder  except  Mary  and  Bothwell,  whose  project 
of  marriage  was  as  yet  unsuspected.  At  the  same 
time,  if  Bothwell  liked  to  kill  Darnley  on  his  own 
responsibility,  as  no  doubt  he  made  it  pretty  plain 
that  he  would — why,  so  much  the  better.  It  re- 
lieved the  other  lords  of  all  trouble.  It  was  a  sim- 
ple, thorough,  old-fashioned  expedient,  which  had 
never  been  attended  with  any  discredit  in  Scotland, 
and  had  only  one  inconvenience — that  it  usually 
saddled  the  murderer  with  a  blood-feud.  In  the 
present  case  Lennox  was  the  only  peer  who  would 
feel  the  least  aggrieved  ;  and  he  was  in  no  condition 
to  wage  blood-feuds.  Anyhow,  that  was  Both  well's 
lookout. 

So  obvious  was  all  this  that  it  was  hardly  worth 
while  to  observe  secrecy  except  as  to  the  exact  occa- 
sion and  mode  of  execution.  Many  persons  were 
more  or  less  aware  of  what  was  going  to  be  done  ; 
but  none  cared  to  interfere.  Moray  was  an  honor- 
able and  conscientious  man,  if  judged  by  the  standard 
of  his  environment — the  only  fair  way  of  estimating 
character.    But  Moray  chose  to  leave  Edinburgh  the 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      Y7 

morning  before  the  deed  ;  and  thought  it  sufficient 
to  be  able  to  say  afterwards  that  "  if  any  man  said 
he  was  present  when  purposes  [talk]  were  held  in 
his  audience  tending  to  any  unlawful  or  dishonor- 
able end,  he  spoke  wickedly  and  untruly."  The  in- 
ner circle  of  the  plot  consisted  of  Both  well,  Argyll, 
Huntly,  Maitland,  and  Sir  James  Balfour. 

That  Darnley  w^as  murdered  by  Both  well  is  not 
disputed.  That  Mary  was  cognizant  of  the  plot, 
and  lured  him  to  the  shambles,  has  been  doubted  by 
few  investigators  at  once  competent  and  unbiassed. 
She  lent  herself  to  this  part  not  without  compunc- 
tion. Bothwell  had  the  advantage  over  her  that 
the  loved  has  over  the  lover  ;  and  he  used  it  merci- 
lessly for  his  headlong  ambition,  hardly  taking  the 
trouble  to  pretend  that  he  cared  for  the  unhappy 
woman  who  was  sacrificing  everything  for  him.  He 
in  fact  cared  more  for  his  lawful  wife,  whom  he  was 
preparing  to  divorce,  and  to  whom  he  had  been 
married  only  six  months.  Mary  was  tormented  by 
jealousy  of  her  after  the  divorce  as  well  as  before. 

The  murder  of  Darnley  (Feb.  10, 1567)  was  uni- 
versally ascribed  to  Mary  at  the  time  by  Catholics 
as  well  as  Protestants  at  home  and  abroad,  and  it 
fatally  damaged  her  cause  in  England  and  the  rest 
of  Europe.  In  Scotland  itself — such  was  the  back- 
ward and  barbarous  state  of  the  country — it  would 


78  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

probably  not  have  shaken  her  throne  if  she  had  fol- 
lowed it  up  with  firm  and  prudent  government. 
She  might  even  have  indulged  her  illicit  passion  for 
Bothwell,  with  little  pretence  of  concealment,  if  she 
had  not  advanced  him  in  place  and  power  above  his 
equals.  There  was  probably  not  a  noble  in  Scot- 
land, from  Moray  downwards,  who  would  have 
scrupled  to  be  her  Minister.  The  Protestant  com- 
monalty indeed,  who  with  all  the  national  laxity  as 
to  the  observance  of  the  sixth  commandment,  were 
shocked  by  any  trifling  with  the  seventh,  would  no 
doubt  have  made  their  bark  heard.  But  their  bite 
had  not  yet  become  formidable;  and  in  any  case 
the}^  were  not  to  be  propitiated. 

What  brought  sudden  and  irretrievable  ruin  on 
Mary  was  not  the  murder  of  Darnley,  but  the 
infatuation  which  made  her  the  passive  instrument 
of  BothwelPs  presumptuous  ambition.  The  lords, 
Catholic  and  Protestant  alike,  allowed  the  murderer 
to  pass  uncondemned  and  unpunished  ;  but  they 
were  furious  when  they  found  that  Darnley  had  only 
been  removed  to  make  room  for  Bothwell,  and  that 
they  were  to  have  for  their  master  a  noble  of  by  no 
means  the  highest  lineage,  bankrupt  in  fortuue,  and 
generally  disliked  for  his  arrogant  and  bullying 
demeanor.  The  project  of  marriage  was  not  dis- 
closed till  ten  weeks  after  the  murder  (April  19, 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      79 

1567).  Five  days  later,  Bothwell,  fearing  lest  he 
should  be  frustrated  by  public  indignation  or  inter- 
ference from  England,  carried  off  the  Queen,  as  had 
been  previously  arranged  between  them.  His  idea 
was  that,  when  Mary  had  been  thus  publicly  out- 
raged, it  would  be  recognized  as  impossible  that  she 
should  marry  any  one  but  the  ravisher.  In  this 
coarse  expedient,  as  in  the  clumsy  means  employed 
for  disposing  of  Darnley,  we  see  the  blundering  fool- 
hardiness  of  the  man.  The  marriage  ceremony  was 
performed  as  soon  as  Bothwell's  divorce  could  be 
managed  (May  15).  Just  a  month  later  Mary  sur- 
rendered to  the  insurgent  lords  at  Carberry  Hill,* 
and  Bothwell,  flying  for  his  life,  disappears  from 
history. 

The  feelings  with  which  Elizabeth  had  contem- 
plated the  course  of  events  in  Scotland  during  the 

*  Bothwell  would  gladly  have  fought  a  duel  at  Carberry 
Hill  with  Morton,  but  Mary  would  not  permit  it ;  she  said 
that  he  was  too  mean  a  man  to  fight  her  husband.  When  the 
Confederates  were  finally  about  to  make  the  attack,  Mary's 
army,  which  had  been  rapidly  melting  away,  was  unable  to 
do  battle.  At  that  point  Bothwell  with  a  few  attendants,  gal- 
loped away,  and  Mary,  who  could  not  possibly  escape,  sur- 
rendered to  Grange.  After  a  few  tokens  of  loyalty,  the  for- 
mality due  to  the  queen,  the  indignation  and  wrath  of  the 
people  broke  out  with  great  fierceness,  and  they  shouted, 
"Burn  the  whore,  burn  the  murderess  of  her  husband!" 
She  had  alienated  the  good  will  of  a  large  portion  of  her  best 
people  by  thus  shocking  their  moral  consciousness. 


go  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

last  six  montlis  were  no  doubt  of  a  mixed  nature. 
At  the  beginning  of  1567,  her  seven-years'  duel  with 
Mary  appeared  to  be  ending  in  defeat.  The  last 
bold  thrust,  aimed  in  her  interest  if  not  by  her  hand 
— the  murder  of  Kizzio — had  not  improved  her  posi- 
tion. It  seemed  that  she  would  soon  be  obliged  to 
make  her  choice  between  two  equally  dreaded  alter- 
natives :  she  must  either  recognize  Mary  as  her  heir 
or  take  a  husband.  From  this  unpleasant  dilemma 
she  was  released  by  the  headlong  descent  of  her 
rival  in  the  first  six  months  of  1567.  But  all  other 
feelings  were  soon  swallowed  up  in  alarm  and  indig- 
nation at  the  spectacle  of  subjects  in  revolt  against 
their  sovereign.  As  tidings  came  in  rapid  succes- 
sion of  Mary's  surrender  at  Carberry  Hill,  of  her 
return  to  Edinburgh  amidst  the  insults  and  threats 
of  the  Calvinist  mob,  of  her  imprisonment  at  Loch 
Leven,  of  the  proposal  to  try  and  execute  her,  Eliza- 
beth's anger  waxed  hotter,  and  she  told  the  Scotch 
lords  in  her  most  imperious  tones  that  she  could 
not,  and  would  not,  permit  them  to  use  force  with 
their  sovereign.  If  they  deposed  or  punished  her, 
she  would  revenge  it  upon  them.  If  they  could  not 
prevail  on  her  to  do  what  was  right,  they  must 
"  remit  themselves  to  Almighty  God,  in  whose  hands 
only  princes'  hearts  remain." 
This  language,  addressed  as  it  was  to  the  only 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.       81 

men  in  Scotland  who  were  disposed  to  support  the 
English  interest,  was  imprudent.  In  her  fellow-feel- 
ing for  a  sister  sovereign,  and  her  keen  perception 
of  the  revolutionary  tendencies  of  the  time,  Elizabeth 
spoilt  an  unique  opportunity  of  placing  her  relations 
with  Scotland  on  a  footing  of  permanent  security,  of 
providing  for  the  English  succession  in  a  way  at  once 
advantageous  to  the  nation  and  free  from  risk  to 
her  own  life,  and  lastly,  of  escaping  from  the  con- 
stant worry  about  her  own  marriage.  She  had  seen 
clearly  enough  what  might  be  made  of  the  situation. 
Throgmorton  had  been  dispatched  to  Scotland 
with  instructions  to  do  his  best  to  get  the  infant 
Prince  confided  to  her  care.  Once  in  England,  she 
would  virtually  have  adopted  him.  She  would  have 
possessed  a  son  and  heir  without  the  inconvenience 
of  marriage.  To  a  Parliamentary  recognition,  in- 
deed, of  his  title  she  would  assuredly  not  have  con- 
sented. It  would  have  made  him  independent  and 
dangerous.  But  if  he  behaved  well  to  her,  his  suc- 
cession would  be  more  certain  than  any  Act  of 
Parliament  could  make  it.  Mary,  if  released  and 
restored  to  power,  would  no  longer  be  formidable. 
If  she  were  deposed  or  put  to  death,  Elizabeth  would 
indirectly  govern  Scotland,  at  all  events,  till  James 
should  be  of  age. 

This  splendid  opportunity  Elizabeth  lost  by  her  per- 


82  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

emptory  and  domineering  language.  The  old  Scotch 
pride  took  fire.  The  Anglophile  lords,  who  would 
have  been  glad  enough  to  send  the  young  Prince  to 
England,  could  not  afford  to  appear  less  patriotic  than 
the  Francophiles.  Throgmorton's  attempt  to  get  hold 
of  James  was  as  unsuccessful  as  that  of  the  Protector 
Somerset  to  get  hold  of  James's  mother  had  been 
twenty  years  before.  He  was  told  that,  before  the 
Prince  could  be  sent  to  England,  his  title  to  the 
English  succession  must  be  recognized ;  a  condition 
which  Elizabeth  could  not  grant.  Her  claim  that 
Mary  should  be  restored  without  conditions  was 
equally  unacceptable  to  the  Anglophile  lords.  They 
might  have  been  induced  to  release  her  if  she  would 
have  consented  to  give  up  Bothwell,  or  if  they  could 
have  caught  and  hanged  him.  But  such  was  her 
devotion  to  him,  that  no  threats  or  promises  availed 
to  shake  it.  It  was  in  vain  that  they  offered  to  pro- 
duce letters  of  his  to  the  divorced  Lady  Bothwell,  in 
which  he  assured  her  that  he  regarded  her  still  as 
his  lawful  wife,  and  Mary  only  as  his  concubine. 
The  unhappy  Queen  had  been  aware  even  before 
her  marriage — as  a  pathetic  letter  to  Bothwell  shows 
— that  her  passionate  love  was  not  returned.  Two 
days  after  the  marriage,  his  unkindness  had  driven 
her  to  think  of  suicide.  But  nothing  they  could  say 
could  shake  her  constancy.    "  She  would  not  con- 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      83 

sent  by  any  persuasion  to  abandon  the  Lord  Both- 
well  for  her  husband.  She  would  live  and  die  with 
him.  If  it  were  put  to  her  choice  to  relinquish  her 
crown  and  kingdom  or  the  Lord  Bothwell,  she  would 
leave  her  kingdom  and  dignity  to  go  as  a  simple 
damsel  with  him ;  and  she  will  never  consent  that 
he  shall  fare  worse  or  have  more  harm  than  herself. 
Let  them  put  Bothwell  and  herself  on  board  ship  to 
go  wherever  fortune  might  carry  them."  This 
temper  made  it  difficult  for  the  Anglophile  lords  to 
know  what  to  do  with  the  prisoner  of  Loch  Leven. 
They  were  disappointed  and  angry  that  Elizabeth, 
instead  of  approving  their  enterprise,  and  sending 
the  money  for  which,  as  usual,  they  were  begging, 
should  treat  them  as  rebels,  and  even  secretly  urge 
the  Hamiltons  to  rescue  Mary  by  force.  The  Hamil- 
ton s  were  in  arms  at  Dumbarton.  They  wanted 
either  that  the  Prince  should  be  proclaimed  King, 
with  the  Duke  of  Chatelherault  for  Regent,  or  that 
Mary  should  be  divorced  from  Bothwell  and  mar- 
ried to  Lord  John  Hamilton,  the  Duke's  second  son, 
and,  in  default  of  the  crazy  Arran,  his  destined  suc- 
cessor. With  Argyll,  too,  disgust  at  Mary's  crime 
was  tempered  by  a  desire  to  marry  her  to  his 
brother.  Lady  Douglass  of  Loch  Leven  herself,  for 
whom  Sir  Walter  Scott  has  invented  such  magnifi- 


84  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

cent  tirades,  desired  nothing  better  than  to  be  her 
mother-in-law. 

The  prompt  action  of  the  confederate  lords  foiled 
these  schemes.  By  the  threat  of  a  public  trial  on 
the  charge  of  complicity  in  her  husband's  murder, 
or,  as  her  advocates  believe,  by  the  fear  of  instant 
death,  Mary  was  compelled  to  abdicate  in  favor  of 
her  son,  and  to  nominate  Moray  Eegent  ( July  29, 
1567 ).  Elizabeth  would  not  recognize  him  ;  partly 
from  a  natural  fear  lest  she  should  be  suspected  of 
having  been  in  collusion  with  him  all  along,  partly 
from  genuine  abhorrence  of  such  revolutionary  pro- 
ceedings. The  French  Government,  on  the  other 
hand,  casting  principle  and  sentiment  alike  to  the 
winds,  courted  his  alliance.  He  might  keep  his  sis- 
ter in  prison,  or  put  her  to  death,  or  send  her  to  be 
immured  in  a  French  convent :  only  let  him  embrace 
the  French  interests,  and  an  army  should  be  sent  to 
support  him — a  Huguenot  army  if  he  did  not  like 
Catholics.  But  Moray  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  these 
solicitations,  and  waited  patiently  till  Elizabeth's 
ill-humor  should  give  way  to  more  statesmanlike 
considerations. 

The  escape  of  Mary  from  Loch  Leven  ( May  2, 
1568 ),  and  the  rising  of  the  Hamiltons  in  her  favor, 
were  largely  due  to  the  unfriendly  attitude  assumed 
by  Elizabeth  to  the  Kegent's  government.    Aiter 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      85 

the  defeat  of  Langside  *  (May  13  )  it  would  perhaps 
have  been  difficult  for  the  fugitive  Queen  to  make 
her  way  to  France  or  Spain.  But  it  was  not  the 
difficulty  which  deterred  her  from  making  the  at- 
tempt. Both  Catherine  and  Philip,  later  on,  were 
disposed  to  befriend  her,  or,  rather,  to  make  use  of 
her ;  but  at  the  time  of  her  escape  from  Scotland, 
she  had  nothing  to  expect  from  them  but  severity. 
Elizabeth  was  the  only  sovereign  who  had  tried  to 
help  her.  Moreover,  Mary  had  always  labored 
under  the  delusion  that  because  most  Englishmen 
regarded  her  as  the  next  heir  to  the  crown,  and  a 
great  many  preferred  the  old  religion  to  the  new,  she 
had  as  good  a  party  in  England  as  Elizabeth  herself, 
if  not  a  better.  During  her  prosperity,  she  had  made 
repeated  applications  to  be  allowed  to  visit  the 
southern  kingdom.  She  was  convinced  that,  if  she 
once  appeared  on  English  ground,  Elizabeth's  throne 
would  be  shaken  ;  and  Elizabeth's  unwillingness  to 
receive  the  visit  had  confirmed  her  in  her  belief. 
If  she  now  crossed  the  Sol  way  without  waiting  for 
the  permission  which  she  had  requested  by  letter, 
it  was  not  because  she  was  hard  pressed.  The 
Eegent  had  gone  to  Edinburgh  after  the  battle. 
At  Dundrennan,  among  the  Catholic  Maxwells, 
Lord  Herries  guaranteed  her  safety  for  forty  days ; 
*  Langside  is  now  within  the  limits  of  Glasgow. 


86  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

and,  at  an  hour's  notice,  a  boat  would  place  her  be- 
yond pursuit.  Her  haste  was  rather  prompted  by 
the  expectation  that  Elizabeth,  alarmed  by  her  ap- 
plication, would  refuse  to  receive  her. 

To  Elizabeth  the  arrival  of  the  Scottish  Queen  was, 
indeed,  as  unwelcome  as  it  was  unexpected.  For 
ten  years  she  had  governed  successfully,  because  she 
had  managed  to  hold  an  even  course  between  con- 
flicting principles  and  parties,  and  to  avoid  taking  up 
a  decisive  attitude  on  the  most  burning  questions. 
The  very  indecision,  which  was  the  weak  spot  in 
her  character,  and  which  so  fretted  her  Ministers, 
had,  it  must  be  confessed,  contributed  something  to 
the  result.  Cecil  might  groan  over  a  policy  of  let- 
ting things  drift.  But  it  may  be  doubted  whether 
they  had  not  often  drifted  better  than  Cecil  would 
have  steered  them  if  he  might  have  had  his  way. 
To  do  nothing  is  not,  indeed,  the  golden  rule  of 
statesmanship.  But  at  that  time,  England's  peculiar 
position  between  France  and  Spain,  and  between 
Calvinism  and  Catholicism,  enabled  her  ruler  to 
play  a  waiting  game.  This  was  the  general  rule 
applicable  to  the  situation.  Elizabeth  apprehended 
it  more  clearly  than  her  Ministers  did,  and  she  fell 
back  on  it  again  and  again,  when  they  flattered  them- 
selves that  they  had  committed  her  to  a  forward 
policy.    It  was  safe.    It  was  cheap.    It  required 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.       87 

coolness  and  intrepidity — qualities  with  which  Eliza- 
beth was  well  furnished  by  nature.  But  it  was  not 
spirited  :  it  was  not  showy.  Hence  it  has  not  found 
favor  with  historians,  who  insist  that  it  ought  to 
have  ended  in  disaster.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  Eng- 
land was  carried  safely  through  unparalleled  diffi- 
culties ;  and,  when  all  is  said,  Elizabeth  is  entitled 
to  be  judged  by  the  general  result  of  her  long  reign. 

Mary's  arrival  was  unwelcome  to  Elizabeth,  be- 
cause it  seemed  likely  to  force  her  hand.  To  do 
nothing  would  be  no  longer  possible.  The  Catholic 
nobles  and  gentry  of  the  north  flocked  to  Carlisle  to 
pay  court  to  the  heiress  of  the  English  crown.  It  was 
not  that  they  believed  her  innocent  of  her  husband's 
murder.  The  suspicion  of  her  complicity  was  at  that 
time  universal.  But  they  supposed  that  it  would 
never  amount  to  more  than  a  suspicion.  They  did 
not  expect  that  the  charge  would  ever  be  formally 
made.  They  were  not  aware  that  it  could  be  sup- 
ported by  overwhelming  evidence.  Later  on,  when 
the  proofs  were  produced,  they  had  already  com- 
mitted themselves  to  her  cause,  and  were  bound 
not  to  be  convinced. 

If  the  attitude  of  these  Catholics  be  thought  to 
indicate  some  moral  callousness,  it  may  be  fairly 
argued  that  it  was  less  cynical  than  that  of  Eliza- 
beth herself,  who,  while  not  unwilling  that  Mary 


S8  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

should  be  suspected,  would  not  allow  her  to  be 
convicted.  Steady  to  her  main  purpose,  though 
hesitating,  and  even  vacillating,  in  the  means  she 
adopted,  she  still  adhered,  notwithstanding  all  that 
had  lately  taken  place,  to  her  intention  that  Mary, 
if  her  survivor,  should  be  her  successor.  Like  all 
the  great  statesmen  of  her  time,  she  placed  secular 
interests  before  religious  opinions.  She  was  per- 
suaded that  the  maintenance  of  the  principle  of  au- 
thority was  all-important.  Nothing  else  could  hold 
society  together  or  prevent  the  rival  fanaticisms 
from  tearing  each  other  to  pieces.  For  authority 
there  was  no  other  basis  left  than  the  principle  of 
hereditary  succession  by  primogeniture.  This  prin- 
ciple must,  therefore  be  treated  as  something 
sacred — not  to  be  set  aside  or  tampered  with  in  a 
short-sighted  grasping  at  any  seeming  immediate 
utility.  To  allow  it  to  be  called  in  question  was  to 
shake  her  own  title.  Already,  in  France,  the 
Jesuits  were  preaching  that  orthodoxy  and  the  will 
of  the  people  were  the  only  legitimate  foundation 
of  sovereignty.  Few  English  Catholics  had  learned 
that  doctrine  ;  but  they  would  not  be  slow  to  learn 
it  if  the  hereditary  claim  of  Mary  was  to  be  set 
aside. 

If  Mary  had  been  content  to  claim  what  primo- 
geniture gave  her — the  right  to  the  succession — > 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      89 

there  would  have  been  no  quarrel  between  her  and 
Elizabeth.  But  it  was  notorious  that  she  had  all 
along  been  plotting  to  substitute  herself  for  Eliza- 
beth. Never  had  she  cherished  that  dream  with 
more  confidence  than  when  the  Percys  and  Nevilles 
crowded  round  her  at  Carlisle.  In  her  sanguine 
imagination,  she  already  saw  herself  mistress  of  a 
finer  kingdom  than  that  which  had  just  expelled 
her,  and  marching,  at  the  head  of  her  new  subjects, 
to  wreak  vengeance  on  her  old  ones.  She  seemed 
likely  to  be  no  less  dangerous  as  an  exile  in  England 
than  as  a  Queen  in  Scotland. 

Elizabeth  had  now  reason  to  regret  the  un- 
necessary warmth  with  which  she  had  espoused 
Mary's  cause.  To  suppose  that  she  had  any  senti- 
mental feelings  for  one  whom  she  knew  to  be 
her  deadly  enemy  is,  in  my  judgment,  ridiculous. 
Elizabeth  was  not  a  generous  woman — especially 
towards  other  women ;  and  in  this  case  generosity 
would  have  been  folly,  and  culpable  folly.  She  did 
not  hate  Mary — she  was  too  cool  and  self-reliant  to 
hate  an  enemy — but  she  disliked  her.  She  was 
jealous,  with  a  small  feminine  jealousy,  of  her  beauty 
and  fascinations.  The  consciousness  of  this  un- 
worthy feeling  made  her  all  the  more  anxious  not  to 
betray  it.  And  so,  at  a  time  when  she  did  not 
expect  to  have  Mary  on  her  hands,  she  had  been 


90  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

tempted  to  use  language  implying  a  pity,  sympathy, 
and  affection  which  assuredly  she  did  not  feel,  and 
which  it  would  not  have  been  creditable  to  her  to 
feel.  Petty  insincerities  of  this  kind  have  usually 
to  be  paid  for  sooner  or  later.  She  had  now  to  ex- 
change the  language  of  sympathy  for  the  language 
of  business  with  what  grace  she  could ;  and  she  has 
not  escaped  the  charge,  certainly  undeserved,  of 
deliberate  treachery.  It  was  awkward,  after  such 
exaggerated  professions  of  S3^mpathy,  to  be  obliged 
to  hold  the  fugitive  at  arm's-length,  and  even  to  put 
restraint  on  her  movements.  But  no  other  course 
was  possible.  'No  sovereign,  at  any  time  in  history, 
has  allowed  a  pretender  to  the  crown  to  move  about 
freely  in  his  dominions  and  make  a  party  among  his 
subjects. 

Wince  as  she  might,  and  did,  under  the  reproach 
of  treachery,  Elizabeth  was  not  going  to  allow  her 
unwise  words  to  tie  her  to  unwise  action.  Only  one 
arrangement  appeared  to  her  to  be  at  once  admissi- 
ble in  principle  and  prudent  in  practice.  Mary  must 
be  restored  to  the  Scottish  throne ;  but  in  such  a 
way  that  she  should  thenceforth  be  powerless  for 
mischief.  She  must  be  content  with  the  title  of 
Queen.  The  real  government  must  be  in  the  hands 
of  Moray.  Thus  the  principle  of  legitimacy  and 
the  sacredness  of  royalty  would  be  saved,  and  the 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      91 

English  Catholics  would  be  content  to  bide  their 
time. 

Cecil,  for  his  part,  was  also  anxious  to  see  Mary- 
back  in  Scotland  ;  but  not  as  Queen.  Though  re- 
garded in  Catholic  circles  as  a  desperate  heretic,  he 
was  really  a  politique,  a  worldly-minded  man — I 
mean  the  epithet  to  be  laudator}^ — and  he  would 
probably  have  admitted  in  the  abstract  the  wisdom 
of  Elizabeth's  opinion—that  it  was  of  more  impor- 
tance to  England  to  have  a  legitimate  sovereign  than 
a  gospel  religion.  But  he  was  not  prepared  to  sub- 
mit frankly  to  the  application  of  this  principle. 
His  personal  prospects  were  too  deeply  concerned. 
It  was  all  very  well  for  Elizabeth  to  lay  down  a 
principle  in  which  she  might  be  said  to  have  a  life- 
interest.  She  was  thirteen  years  his  junior;  but 
she  might  easily  predecease  him ;  and,  with  Mary  on 
the  throne,  his  power  would  certainly  go,  and,  not 
improbably,  his  head  with  it.  It  was  not  in  human 
nature,  therefore,  that  he  should  cherish  the  prin- 
ciple of  primogeniture  as  his  mistress  did ;  and,  as 
far  as  his  dread  of  her  displeasure  would  allow  him, 
he  was  always  casting  about  for  some  means  of 
defeating  Mary's  reversion.  Her  sudden  plunge 
into  crime  was  to  him  a  turn  of  good  fortune  beyond 
his  dreams.  If  he  could  have  had  his  will  she  would 
have  been  promptly  handed  over  to  the  Kegent  on 


92  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  understanding  that  she  was  to  be  consigned  to 
perpetual  imprisonment,  or,  still  better,  to  the  scaf- 
fold. 

In  order  to  carry  out  her  plan,  Elizabeth  called 
on  Mary  and  the  Kegent  to  submit  their  respective 
cases  to  a  Commission,  consisting  of  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk,  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  and  Sir  Kalph  Sadler. 
Mary  was  extremely  reluctant,  as  she  well  might  be, 
to  face  any  investigation  ;  but  she  was  told  that, 
until  her  character  was  formally  cleared,  she  could 
not  be  admitted  to  Elizabeth's  presence  ;  and  she 
was  at  the  same  time  privately  assured  that  her 
restoration  should,  in  any  case,  be  managed  without 
any  damage  to  her  honor.  Moray  received  an 
equally  positive  assurance  that  if  his  sister  was 
proved  guilty,  she  should  not  be  restored.  The  two 
statements  were  not  absolutely  irreconcilable,  because 
Elizabeth  intended  to  prevent  the  worst  charges  from 
being  openly  proved.  Her  sole  object — and  we  can 
hardly  blame  her — was  to  obtain  security  for  herself 
and  her  own  kingdom.  She  did  not  wish  the  Queen 
of  Scots  to  be  proved  a  murderess  in  open  court ; 
but  she  did  desire  that  the  charge  should  be  made, 
and  also  that  the  Commissioners  should  see  the  orig- 
inals of  the  casket  letters.*     Any  public  disclosure 

*  These  "  casket  letters  "  were  one  of  the  causes  of  Mary's 
undoing.  "The  Earl  of  Bothwell,"  says  Froude,  "on  leav- 
ing Edinburgh  for  the  Borders,  had  left  in  Balfour's  hauds 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      93 

of  the  evidence  might  be  prevented,  and  some  sort  of 
ambiguous  acquittal  pronounced,  on  grounds  which 
all  the  world  would  see  to  be  nugatory  :  such,  for 
instance,  as  the  culprit's  own  solemn  denial  of  the 
charge ;  which  was,  in  fact,  the  only  answer  Mary  in- 
tended to  make.  What  was  known  to  the  Commis- 
sioners would  come  to  be  more  or  less  known  to  all 
persons  of  influence  in  England,  and  would  surely  dis- 
credit Mary  to  such  a  degree  that  even  her  warmest 
partisans  would  cease  to  conspire  in  her  favor.  Mary 
herself  (so  Elizabeth  hoped),  when  made  aware  that 
this  terrible  weapon  was  in  reserve,  and  could 
at  any  moment  be  used  against  her,  would  be  per- 
manently humbled  and  crippled,  and  would  be  glad 
to  accept  such  terms  as  Elizabeth  would  impose. 

The  Commissioners  opened  their  court  at  York 
(October,  1568).     But  they  had  not  been  sitting  long 

the  celebrated  casket  which  contained  the  Queen's  letters  to 
himself,  some  love  sonnets,  the  bond  signed  at  Seton  before  his 
trial,  and  another,  probably  that  which  was  drawn  at  Craig- 
millar  after  the  Queen's  illness.  The  casket  itself  was  a  silver 
enameled  box,  one  of  the  treasures  which  Mary  Stuart  had 
brought  with  her  from  France.  She  had  bestowed  it  upon 
her  lover,  and  her  lover  in  turn  had  made  use  of  it  to  preserve 
the  proofs  that  he  had  been  acting  in  the  murder  only  as  the 
instrument  of  his  mistress,  and  with  the  authority  of  half 
her  council.  Being  of  infinite  importance  to  him,  he  sent 
Dalgleish,  one  of  his  servants  from  Dunbar,  after  his  flight 
from  Carberry  Hill,  to  fetch  it.  Balfour  gave  it  to  Dalgleish, 
but  sent  word  to  the  Confederates,  who  captured  both  the 
prize  and  its  bearer." — Vol.  ix.,  p.  118. 


94  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

before  Elizabeth  discovered  that  ITorf oik  was  schem- 
ing to  marry  Mary,  and  that  the  project  was  ap- 
proved by  many  of  the  English  nobility.  Their  pur- 
pose was  not,  as  yet,  disloyal.  They  thought  that, 
married  to  the  head  of  the  English  peerage,  and 
residing  in  England,  Mary  would  have  to  give  up 
her  plots  with  France,  while  her  presence  would 
strengthen  the  Conservative  party,  which  desired  to 
keep  up  the  old  alliance  with  Spain,  and  looked  for 
the  re-establishment  sooner  or  later  of  the  old 
religion.  This  scheme,  though  not  disloyal,  was  ex- 
tremely alarming  to  Elizabeth.  Norfolk  was  nom- 
inally a  Protestant.  But  she  had  placed  him  on  the 
Commission  as  a  representative  of  the  Conservative 
party,  believing  that,  w^hile  he  would  lend  himself 
to  hushing  up  Mary's  guilt,  his  eyes  would  be  opened 
to  her  real  character.  Yet  here  he  was,  like  the 
Hamiltons,  Campbells,  and  Douglases,  ready  to  take 
her  with  her  smirched  reputation,  simply  for  the 
chance  of  her  two  crowns.  It  was  not  a  case  of  love, 
for  he  had  never  seen  her.  He  seems  to  have  been 
staggered  for  a  moment  by  the  sight  of  the  casket 
letters,  and  to  have  doubted  whether  it  was  for  his 
honor  or  even  his  safety  to  marry  such  a  woman. 
But  in  the  end,  as  we  shall  see,  he  swallowed  his 
scruples. 
On  discovering  Norfolk's  intrigue,  Elizabeth  hastily 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      95 

revoked  the  Commission,  and  ordered  another  investi- 
gation to  be  held  by  the  most  important  peers  and 
statesmen  of  England.  The  casket  letters  and  the 
dispositions  were  submitted  to  them.  Mary's  able 
and  zealous  advocate,  the  Bishop  of  Eoss,  could  say 
nothing  except  that  his  mistress  had  sent  him.  on  the 
supposition  that  Moray  was  to  be  the  defendant : 
let  her  appear  in  person  before  the  Queen,  and  she 
would  give  reasons  why  Moray  ought  not  to  be  al- 
lowed to  advance  any  charges  against  her.  To  make 
no  better  answer  than  this  was  virtually  to  admit 
that  the  charges  against  her  were  unanswerable. 

It  was  thought  that  she  was  now  sufficiently 
frightened  to  be  ready  to  accept  Elizabeth's  terms, 
and  they  were  unofficially  communicated  to  her. 
Her  return  to  Scotland  was  no  longer  contemplated, 
for  Moray  had  absolutely  declined  to  charge  her 
openly  with  the  murder  or  produce  the  letters  un- 
less she  were  detained  in  England.  But  in  order  to 
get  rid  of  the  revolutionary  proceedings  at  Loch 
Leven  she  herself,  as  it  were  of  her  own  free  will,  and 
on  the  ground  that  she  was  weary  of  government, 
was  to  confer  the  crown  on  her  son  and  the  regency 
on  Moray.  James  was  to  be  educated  in  England. 
She  herself  was  to  reside  in  England  as  long  as 
Elizabeth  should  find  it  convenient.  It  was  not 
mentioned  in  the  communication,  but  it  was  probably 


96  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

intended,  that  she  should  marr  j  some  Englishman  of 
no  political  importance,  in  order  to  produce  more 
children  who  would  succeed  James  if,  as  was  likely- 
enough,  he  should  die  in  his  infancy.  If  she  would 
accept  these  conditions  the  charges  against  her 
should  be  "  committed  to  perpetual  silence  " ;  if 
not,  the  trial  must  go  on,  and  the  verdict  could  not 
be  doubtful  (December,  1568). 

A  woman  less  daring  and  less  keen-sighted  than 
Mary  would  assuredly,  at  this  point,  have  given  up 
the  game,  and  thankfully  accepted  the  conditions 
offered.  They  would  not  have  prevented  her  from 
ascending  the  English  throne  if  she  had  outlived 
Elizabeth.  But  that  was  a  delay  which  she  had 
always  scouted  as  intolerable,  and  she  was  one  to 
whom  life  was  worth  nothing  if  it  meant  defeat,  re- 
tirement, even  for  a  time,  from  the  public  scene, 
and  the  abandonment  of  long-cherished  ambitions. 
Moreover  her  quick  wit  had  divined  that  Elizabeth 
was  using  a  threat  which  she  did  not  mean  to  put 
into  execution.  There  would  be  no  verdict — not 
even  any  publication  to  the  world  of  the  evidence. 
Guilty  therefore  as  she  was,  and  aware  that  her 
guilt  could  be  proved,  she  coolly  faced  "  the  great 
extremities  "  at  which  Elizabeth  had  hinted,  and  re- 
jected the  conditions. 

Perhaps  even  Mary's  daring  would  have  flinched 


ELIZABETH  AND  MARY  STUART  :  1559-1568.      97 

from  this  bold  game  but  for  a  quarrel  between  Eliza- 
beth and  Philip,  to  be  mentioned  presently.  Hitherto 
Philip,  much  to  his  credit,  had  declined  to  interfere 
in  Mary's  behalf.  To  him,  as  to  every  one  else.  Cath- 
olic as  well  as  Protestant,  her  guilt  seemed  evident. 
She  had  been  only  a  scandal  and  embarrassment  to 
the  Catholic  cause.  But  if  there  was  to  be  war  with 
England,  every  enemy  of  Elizabeth  was  a  weapon  to 
be  used.  Accordingly  he  now  began,  though  reluc- 
tantly, to  think  of  helping  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and 
even  of  marrying  her  to  his  brother  Don  John  of 
Austria.  With  the  prospect  of  such  backing  it  was 
not  wonderful  that  she  declined  to  own  herself  beaten. 
Elizabeth's  calculations,  though  reasonable,  were 
thus  disappointed.  The  inquiry  was  dropped  with- 
out any  decision.  The  Regent  was  sent  home  with 
a  small  sum  of  money,  and  Mary  remained  in  England 
(January,  1569). 
7 


98  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


OHAPTEE  y. 

ARISTOCEATIO  PLOTS  :  1668-1572. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  reign  Cecil  had  never 
ceased  to  impress  upon  his  mistress  that  a  French  or 
Spanish  invasion  on  behalf  of  the  Pope  might  at  any 
time  be  expected,  and  that  she  should  hurry  to 
meet  it  by  forming  a  league  with  the  foreign  Prot- 
estants of  both  Confessions,  and  vigorously  assist- 
ing them  to  carry  on  a  war  of  religion  on  the  Con- 
tinent. He  was  assuredly  too  well  informed  to 
believe  that  France  and  Spain  would  cease  to  coun- 
teract each  other's  designs  on  England,  or  that 
Lutherans  and  Calvin  is  ts  would  heartily  combine  for 
mutual  defence.  The  enemies  he  really  feared  were 
his  Catholic  countrymen,  with  whom  he  would 
have  to  fight  for  his  head  if  Elizabeth  should  die. 
He  therefore  desired  to  force  on  the  struggle  in  her 
lifetime,  when  they  would  be  rebels,  and  he  would 
wield  the  power  of  the  Crown. 

Elizabeth,  on  the  other  hand,  was  against  interfe- 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1572.  99 

renoe  on  the  Continent,  because  it  would  be  the  surest 
way  to  bring  upon  England  the  calamity  of  invasion. 
She  saw  as  plainl}^  as  Cecil  did  that  it  would  compel 
her  to  throw  herself  into  the  arms  of  her  own  Prot- 
estants and  to  become,  like  her  two  predecessors, 
the  mere  chief  of  a  party  :  whereas  she  meant  to  be 
the  Queen  of  all  Englishmen,  and  to  tranquillize  the 
natural  fears  of  each  party  by  letting  it  see  that  it 
would  not  be  sacriiSced  to  the  violence  of  the  other. 
Moreover  the  unbridled  ascendancy  of  the  Protes- 
tants would  mean  such  alterations  in  the  established 
worship  as  would  have  driven  from  the  parish 
churches  thousands  of  the  most  military  class,  peers, 
squires  and  their  tenantry,  who  were  enduring 
Anglicanism  with  its  episcopate,  its  semi-Catholic 
prayer-book,  and  its  claim  to  belong  to  the  Universal 
Apostolic  Church,  because  they  could  persuade  them- 
selves that  its  variations  from  the  old  religion  were 
unimportant  and  temporary.  And  this  again  would 
increase  the  probability  of  foreign  invasion.  For, 
though  to  Philip  all  forms  of  heresy  were  equally 
damnable  and  equally  marked  out  for  extermination 
sooner  or  later,  yet  he  was  in  much  less  hurry  to 
begin  with  the  politically  harmless  Lutherans  or 
Anglicans  than  with  the  dangerous  levellers  who 
derived  their  inspiration  from  Geneva.  Now  for 
Elizabeth  to  gain  time  was  everything.     She  had 


100  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

gained  ten  precious  years  already  by  her  moderation. 
She  was  to  gain  twenty  more  before  the  slow-moving 
Spaniard  decided  to  launch  the  great  Armada. 

But  though  Elizabeth  shunned  war  with  Spain  she 
nevertheless  recognized  that  Philip  was  the  enemy, 
and  that  all  ways  of  damaging  him  short  of  war  were 
for  her  advantage.  English  and  Huguenot  corsairs 
swarmed  in  the  Channel.  Spanish  ships  were  seized. 
The  crews  were  hanged  or  made  to  w^alk  the  plank ; 
the  prizes  were  carried  into  English  ports,  and  there 
sold  without  disguise  or  rebuke.  These  outrages 
were  represented  as  reprisals  for  cruelties  imflicted 
on  English  sailors  who  occasionally  fell  into  the 
hands  of  the  Inquisition.  Practically  a  ship  with  a 
valuable  cargo  was  treated  as  fair  game  whatever 
its  nationality.  But  while  in  the  case  of  other 
countries  it  was  only  individual  traders  who  suffered, 
to  Spain  it  meant  obstruction  of  her  high-road  to 
her  Belgic  dominions,  then  simmering  with  disaffec- 
tion. 

The  English  nobles  of  the  old  blood  disliked  these 
proceedings.  Even  Cecil  did  not  conceal  from  him- 
self that  they  fostered  a  spirit  of  lawlessness.  What 
the  corsairs  were  doing  he  would  have  preferred  to 
see  done  by  the  royal  navy.  To  that  Elizabeth  would 
not  consent.  The  activity  of  the  corsairs  gave  her 
all  the  advantage  she  could  hope  to  have  from  war, 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOl'S  i  lf>6^15':^.  iOl 

without  any  of  its  disadvantages.  Instead  of  laying 
out  her  treasure  on  a  navy,  she  was  deriving  an  in- 
come from  the  piratical  ventures  of  Hawkins  and 
Drake  ;  while  the  ships  and  sailors  of  this  volunteer 
navy  would  be  available  for  the  defence  of  the  coun- 
try whenever  the  need  should  arise.  Whatever  may 
be  thought  of  the  morality  of  her  plan,  there  can  be 
no  question  as  to  its  efficiency  and  economy. 

Since  even  these  outrages,  exasperating  as  they 
were,  had  not  goaded  Philip  to  the  point  of  declar- 
ing war,  a  still  more  daring  provocation  now  fol- 
lowed. Some  ships,  conveying  a  large  sum  of  money 
borrowed  by  Philip  in  Genoa  for  the  payment  of 
Alva's  army,  having  put  into  English  ports  to  avoid 
the  corsairs,  Elizabeth,  with  the  hearty  approval  of 
Cecil,  took  possession  of  the  money,  and  said  she 
would  herself  borrow  it  from  the  Genoese  (December, 
1568).  The  Minister  hoped  this  would  bring  on  a 
war.  The  Queen  audaciously  but  more  correctly 
anticipated  that  Philip's  resentment  would  still  stop 
short  of  that  extremity.  He  remonstrated :  he 
threatened :  he  seized  all  English  ships  and  sailors 
in  his  ports.  Elizabeth,  undismayed,  swept  all  the 
Spaniards  and  Flemings  whom  she  could  find  in 
London  into  her  prisons,  and  seized  their  goods,  to  a 
value  far  greater  than  that  of  the  English  property 
in  Philip's  grasp. 


102  QUaEN  ELIZABETH. 

In  striking  contrast  with  this  unflinching  attitude 
towards  Spain  was  the  behavior  of  Elizabeth  when 
threatened  with  war  by  France,  unless  she  undertook 
to  close  her  harbors  to  the  Huguenots,  and  to  forbid 
her  own  corsairs  to  prey  on  French  commerce.  The 
summons  was  promptly  obeyed.  Full  satisfaction 
was  made  (April,  1569).  Yet  France  was  at  the  mo- 
ment a  far  less  formidable  antagonist  than  Spain. 
The  French  government  did  not  possess  the  means 
of  invading  England.  On  this  side  of  the  Channel 
the  old  anti-French  feeling  was  so  persistent  that  all 
parties  were  ready  and  willing  for  the  fray.  The 
defeat  of  the  Huguenots  at  Jarnac*  (April,  1569) 
may  have  had  something  to  do  with  Elizabeth's  com- 
pliance. But  what  influenced  her  still  more  was  her 
perception  that  war  with  France  would  compel  her 
to  place  herself  under  the  protection  of  Spain ;  where- 
as she  desired  to  keep  Spain  at  arm's-length,  and  to 
maintain  a  good  understanding  with  France,  as  did 
Eliot,  Pym,  and  Cromwell  afterwards,  regardless  of 
the  rooted  prejudices  of  their  countrymen.  Eliza- 
beth probably  stood  alone  in  her  judgment  on  this 
occasion. 

*  Jarnac  is  a  small  town  near  the  western  coast  of  southern 
France,  about  seventy  miles  north  of  Bordeaux.  There,  on 
the  13th  of  March,  1569,  the  Huguenots  under  Conde  and 
Coligny  suffered  a  severe  defeat  at  the  hands  of  the  Duke  of 
Anjou. 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1572.  103 

The  quarrel  with  Philip  had  more  serious  results 
at  home  than  abroad.  It  was  indirectly  the  cause 
of  the  only  English  rebellion  that  disturbed  the  long 
reign  of  Elizabeth. 

Most  of  the  nobility  and  gentry,  even  when  pro- 
fessedly Protestants,  regretted  the  alienation  of  Eng- 
land from  the  Universal  Church.  If  they  had  all 
pulled  together  they  must  have  had  their  way,  for 
they  were  the  military  and  political  class.  But  their 
discontent  varied  widely  in  its  intensity.  There 
were  nobles  like  Sussex  who  were  resolved  to  serve 
their  Queen  loyally  and  zealously,  but  who,  all  the 
same,  wished  her  to  cultivate  a  good  understanding 
with  Philip,  to  marry  the  Archduke,  to  abstain  from 
assisting  the  Huguenots,  to  give  no  countenance  to 
the  rovers,  to  recognize  Mary  as  her  heir-presump- 
tive and  marry  her  to  Norfolk.  There  were  others 
like  ISTorfolk,  Montagu,  Arundel,  and  Southampton^ 
who  had  treasonable  relations  with  the  Spanish  am- 
bassador, and  aimed  at  overthrowing  Cecil,  marry- 
ing Mary  to  Norfolk,  and  compelling  the  Queen  to 
restore  the  Catholic  worship,  or  at  least  to  make  such 
changes  in  the  Anglican  model  as  would  facilitate  a 
reunion  with  Rome  when  Mary  should  succeed.  A 
third  party,  headed  by  the  Catholic  lords  of  the  north, 
was  plotting  to  depose  Elizabeth  in  favor  of  Mary 
and  to  marry  the  latter  to  Don  John  of  Austria. 


104  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

With  these  powerful  nobles  in  opposition,  who,  be- 
fore the  Keformation,  could  have  hurled  any  sover- 
eign from  his  throne,  where  was  Elizabeth  to  look 
for  support  ?  The  town  populations  were  Protes- 
tant— too  Protestant  indeed  for  her  taste.  But  the 
town  populations  were  a  minority,  and  less  military 
than  the  landowners  and  their  tenants.  She 
had  her  Cecils,  Bacons,  Walsinghams,  Hunsdons, 
KnoUyses,  Sadlers,  Killegrews,  Drurys,  capable  and 
devoted  servants,  but  new  men  without  territorial 
wealth  or  influence,  and  with  no  force  except  what 
they  possessed  as  wielding  the  power  of  the  Crown. 
It  would  be  difficult  to  name  more  than  half-a-dozen 
peers  who  zealously  promoted  her  policy.  Most  of 
them  looked  on  it  coldly,  and  would  support  her 
only  as  long  as  she  seemed  to  be  strongest. 

Mary's  rejection  of  Elizabeth's  terms  coincided 
with  the  quarrel  with  Philip  (December,  1568).  The 
disaffected  nobles  thought  that  the  time  was  now 
come  for  striking  a  blow.  Conscious  that  the  feudal 
devotion  of  the  gentry  and  yeomanry  to  their  local 
chiefs  had  in  Tudor  times  been  largely  superseded 
by  awe  of  the  central  government,  they  were  im- 
portuning Philip  to  give  them  the  signal  for  rebel- 
lion by  sending  a  division  of  Alva's  army  from  the 
Netherlands.  Philip,  cautious  as  usual,  and  afraid 
of  driving  England  into  alliance  with  France,  de- 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1572.  105 

clined  to  send  a  soldier  until  either  the  Norfolk  party- 
had  overthrown  Cecil,  or  the  northern  lords  had 
carried  off  Mary.  Between  these  two  sets  of  con- 
spirators there  was  much  jealousy  and  distrust.  The 
Spanish  ambassador  thought  the  southern  scheme 
the  most  feasible.  Not  without  difficulty  he  per- 
suaded the  northern  lords  to  wait  till  it  should  be 
seen  whether  the  Queen  could  be  induced  or  com- 
pelled to  sanction  the  marriage  of  Mary  with  Nor- 
folk. If  she  refused,  they  were  to  make  a  dash  on 
"Wingfield,  a  seat  of  Lord  Shrewsbury's  in  Derbyshire 
where  Mary  was  staying,  while  Norfolk  was  to  raise 
the  eastern  counties. 

All  through  the  summer  of  1569  these  plots  were 
brewing.  Three  times  Norfolk  and  his  father-in-law 
Arundel  went  to  the  Council  with  the  intention  of 
arresting  Cecil.  Three  times  their  hearts  failed 
them.  The  northern  lords,  who  were  not  members 
of  the  Council,  came  up  to  London  to  see  Norfolk 
bell  the  cat,  but  went  back,  more  suspicious  than 
ever,  to  make  their  own  preparations.  Cecil  him- 
self seems  to  have  been  hedging.  In  his  private 
advice  to  the  Queen  he  was  opposing  the  Norfolk 
marriage,  pointing  out  that  free  or  in  prison,  mar- 
ried or  single,  in  England  or  in  Scotland,  Mary  must 
always  be  dangerous,  and  breathing  for  the  first 
time  the  suggestion  that  she  might  lawfully  be  put 


106  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

to  death  in  England  for  complicity  in  English  plots. 
In  the  Council  he  concurred  in  a  vote  that  she  should 
be  married  to  an  Englishman — in  other  words,  to 
^Norfolk. 

If  Elizabeth  could  have  felt  any  confidence  in 
I^orfolk's  loyalty,  it  seems  probable  that  much  as 
she  disliked  the  marriage  she  would  have  yielded  to 
the  almost  unanimous  pronouncement  of  the  nobil- 
ity in  its  favor.  But  a  sure  instinct  warned  her  of 
her  danger.  "  If  she  consented  she  would  be  in  the 
Tower  before  four  months  were  over."  After  much 
deliberation  she  commanded  the  Duke  on  his  al- 
legiance to  renounce  his  project.  He  gave  his 
promises,  but  soon  retired  to  his  own  country,  and 
sent  word  to  the  northern  earls  that  "  he  would 
stand  and  abide  the  venture."  But  while  he  was 
shivering  and  hesitating,  Elizabeth,  for  once,  was 
all  promptitude  and  decision.  Mary  was  hurried 
to  Tutbury  Castle.  Arundel  and  Pembroke 
were  summoned  to  Windsor,  and  kept  under  sur- 
veillance. l!Torfolk  himself  came  in  quietly,  and 
was  lodged  in  the  Tower.  Thus  the  southern  con- 
spiracy collapsed  (September — October,  1569). 

The  Catholic  lords  and  gentlemen  of  the  north 
who  had  been  awaiting  JS'orfolk's  signal,  were  stag- 
gered by  his  tame  surrender.  Sussex,  who  was  in 
command  at  York,  and  who  being  of  the  old  blood 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1573.  107 

himself,  did  not  care  to  see  old  houses  crushed, 
advised  Elizabeth  to  wink  at  their  half-begun 
treason,  and  be  thankful  it  had  not  come  to  fighting. 
She  winked  at  the  attempted  flight  to  Alva  of 
Southampton  and  Montagu,  and  even  affected  to 
trust  the  latter  with  the  command  of  the  militia 
called  out  in  Sussex.  She  could  afford  to  ignore  the 
disaffection  of  a  southern  noble.  A  Sussex  squire 
or  a  yeoman,  even  if  he  was  not  a  Protestant,  would 
think  twice  before  he  cast  in  his  lot  with  rebellion. 
The  northern  counties  were  mainly  Catholic.  They 
were  much  behind  the  south  in  civilization.  The 
Tudor  sovereigns  were  never  seen  there.  Great 
families  were  still  looked  up  to.  Elizabeth  knew 
that  though  rebellion  might  be  adjourned,  might 
possibly  never  come  off,  it  was  a  constant  menace, 
which  crippled  her  policy.  She  determined  there- 
fore to  have  done  with  it,  once  for  all,  and  summoned 
^Northumberland  and  Westmoreland  to  London. 

Thus  driven  into  a  corner,  the  two  earls  burst  into 
rebellion.  They  entered  Durham  in  arms,  overthrew 
the  communion  table  in  the  cathedral,  set  up  the  old 
altar,  and  had  mass  said  (Nov.  14,  1569).  Next  day 
they  marched  south,  with  the  object  of  rescuing 
Mary  from  Tutbury.  But  when  they  were  within 
fifty  miles  of  that  place,  Shrewsbury  and  Hunt- 
ingdon, in  obedience  to  hurried  orders  from  London, 


108  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

conveyed  her  to  Coventry.  Having  thus  missed 
their  spring,  the  rebel  earls  halted  irresolutely  for 
three  days,  and  then  turned  back.  Their  followers 
dropped  away  from  them.  Clinton  and  Warwick 
were  on  their  track,  with  the  musters  of  the  Mid- 
lands ;  and  before  the  end  of  December  they  were 
fain  to  fly  across  the  Border.  ^Northumberland 
was  arrested  by  Moray.  Two  years  later  he  was 
given  up  to  Elizabeth,  and  executed.  Westmoreland, 
after  being  protected  for  a  time  by  Ker  of  Fernie- 
hirst,  escaped  to  the  Netherlands,  where  he  died. 
England  was  not  again  disturbed  by  rebellion  till 
the  great  civil  war. 

The  failure  of  the  northern  earls  to  kindle  a 
general  rebellion  was  due  to  the  cautious  and  tem- 
porizing policy  for  which  Elizabeth  has  been  so 
severely  blamed  by  heated  partisans.  The  powerful 
party  which  preferred  a  Spanish  alliance,  disliked 
religious  innovation,  and  looked  forward  to  the 
succession  of  Mary,  had  not  been  driven  to  despair 
of  accomplishing  those  ends  in  a  lawful  way.  Their 
avowed  policy  had  not  been  proscribed — had  not 
even  been  repudiated.  Some  of  their  chief  leaders 
were  on  the  Council — as  we  should  say,  were  mem- 
bers of  the  government;  others  were  employed 
and  trusted  and  visited  by  the  Queen.  They  ob- 
jected to  being  hurried  into  civil  war  by  the  north- 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1572.  109 

ern  lords,  who  were  not  of  the  Council,  who  kept 
away  from  London,  and  were  rebels  by  inheri- 
tance and  tradition.  They  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  ill-advised  movement  ;  and,  as  in 
those  days  neutrality  in  the  presence  of  open  in- 
surrection was  no  more  permissible  to  a  nobleman 
than  it  would  be  now  to  an  officer  in  the  army,  they 
had  no  choice  but  to  range  themselves  on  the  side 
of  the  Government.  If  Elizabeth  had  openly  branded 
the  Queen  of  Scots  as  a  murderess,  if  she  had 
pointed  to  Huntingdon  or  the  son  of  Catherine 
Grey  as  her  successor,  if  she  had  put  herself  at  the 
head  of  a  Protestant  league,  she  might  possibly  have 
come  victorious  out  of  a  civil  war.  But  a  civil  war 
it  would  have  been,  and  of  the  worst  kind :  one 
party  calling  in  the  Spaniard,  and  the  other,  in  all 
probability,  driven  to  call  in  the  Frenchman. 

The  assassination  of  Moray*  a  few  weeks  later 
(  Jan.  23, 1570  )  was  a  severe  blow  to  Elizabeth,  and 
an  ^irreparable  disaster  to  his  own   country.      An 

*  After  Moray  had  defeated  Mary's  forces  at  Langside  (see 
above,  p.  84 ),  "  he  was  one  of  the  commissioners  sent  to  Eng- 
land to  conduct  negotiations  against  her.  He  then,  as  always, 
acted  with  extreme  wariness  ;  and  after  his  return  to  Scot- 
land by  his  vigor  and  prudence  he  succeeded  in  securing  the 
peace  of  the  realm,  and  settling  the  affairs  of  the  church. 
But  on  20th  January.  1570,  he  was  shot  by  James  Hamilton, 
who  was  instigated  thereto  by  Mary's  adherents,  and  prompted 
also,  it  may  be,  by  person^.!  enmity,"— Chamber s*s  Encyc, 


110  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

attempt  has  been  made  to  create  an  impression  that 
the  English  Queen  was  somehow  responsible  for  his 
death,  because  she  did  not  march  an  army  into 
Scotland  to  support  him.  He  no  more  wished  to 
receive  an  English  army  into  Scotland  than  Eliza- 
beth wished  to  send  one.  Therein  they  were  both 
of  them  wiser  than  the  critics  of  their  own  day,  or 
this.  "What  he  did  ask  for  was  money,  and  the  rec- 
ognition of  James.  The  request  for  money  Eliza- 
beth was  willing  to  consider,  though,  as  a  rule,  she 
did  not  believe  in  paying  for  any  work  she  could 
get  done  gratis.  The  recognition  of  James  seems 
a  very  simple  thing  to  the  critics.  But  it  was  as 
difl&cult  for  Elizabeth  as  the  recognition  of  the 
Prince  of  Bulgaria  is  now  to  Austria,  and  for 
similar  reasons.  She  was  under  no  obligation  what- 
ever to  Moray.  His  own  interest  compelled  him  to 
play  her  game.  But  she  well  knew  his  value.  On 
hearing  of  his  death  she  shut  herself  up  in  her 
chamber,  exclaiming,  with  tears,  that  she  had  lost 
the  best  friend  she  had  in  the  world. 

As  long  as  Moray  lived,  and  was  able  to  keep  the 
Marian  lords  in  some  sort  of  check,  Elizabeth  judged, 
and  rightly,  that  she  had  more  to  lose  than  to  gain 
by  any  open  interference  in  Scotland.  It  was  no 
business  of  hers  to  put  down  anarchy  there.  Scotch 
anarchy  did  not  imperil  England.     What  would 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1572.  HI 

imperil  England  would  be  the  appearance  of  French 
troops  in  Scotland  ;  and  she  judged  that  nothing 
would  be  so  likely  to  bring  them  there  as  any  pre- 
tension to  establish  an  English  protectorate.  Her 
Protestant  councillors  fretted  at  her  laisser  faire 
policy.  But  then  they,  for  personal  or  at  least  for 
sectarian  reasons,  were  eager  for  that  general 
European  conflagration  which  she,  with  superior 
discernment  and  larger  patriotism,  was  trying  to 
avert. 

The  death  of  Moray  so  weakened  the  King's  party 
that  it  became  necessary  to  give  them  a  little  help. 
Elizabeth  gave  it  in  such  a  way  as  she  thought 
would  be  least  likely  to  excite  the  jealousy  of  France, 
She  told  the  new  Eegent  Lennox  that,  though  she 
could  not  send  an  army  to  support  him,  she  would 
send  one  to  chastise  the  Hamiltons  and  the  Borderers, 
who  were  harboring  her  rebel  the  Earl  of  West- 
moreland, and,  along  with  him,  making  raids  into 
England.  This  was  done  sharply  and  thoroughly. 
The  robber  holds  on  the  Border,  and  Hamilton 
Castle  itself,  were  one  after  another  taken  and 
blown  up  by  the  English  Wardens  of  the  Marches 
(April  and  May  1570). 

What  Elizabeth  desired  more  than  anything  else 
was  to  settle  Scotch  affairs,  in  conjunction  with 
France,   on  the  terms  that  neither  power  should 


112  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

interfere  in  Scotland.  To  Cecil  this  was  unsatis- 
factory, because  the  restoration  of  Mary,  on  kny 
terms  whatever,  would,  if  she  survived  Elizabeth, 
ensure  her  succession  to  the  English  throne,  and  the 
ruin  of  Cecil  himself.  He  did  not  want  to  conciliate 
Catholics  at  home  or  abroad.  He  wanted  to  commit 
his  mistress  to  an  internecine  war  with  them.  In 
an  angry  dispute  with  Arundel  at  the  Council  board 
about  this  time,  he  blurted  out  his  doctrine,  that  the 
Queen  had  no  friends  but  the  Protestants,  and  that 
if  she  restored  Mary  she  would  lose  them  all.  No 
language  could  have  been  more  displeasing  to  Eliza- 
beth, especially  in  the  presence  of  crypto-Catholic 
lords,  and  she  snubbed  him  unmercifully.  "  Mr. 
Secretary,  I  mean  to  have  done  with  this  business  ; 
I  shall  listen  to  the  proposals  of  the  French  King. 
I  am  not  going  to  be  tied  any  longer  to  you  and 
your  brethren  in  Christ." 

The  peace  of  St.  Germain  between  the  French 
court  and  the  Huguenots  (August  8,  1570),  and  the 
disgrace  of  the  Guises,  were  followed  by  negotia- 
tions for  a  tripartite  treaty  between  England,  France, 
and  Scotland  on  the  basis  of  the  restoration  of  Mary. 
Elizabeth,  of  course,  insisted  on  the  guarantees  she 
had  often  sketched  out.  She  was  willing — nay, 
anxious— to  leave  Scotland  alone,  if  the  French 
would  do  the  same.    The  French,  on  the  other  hand, 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  ;  1568-1572.  113 

felt  that  the  equality  of  such  an  arrangement  was 
more  seeming  than  real,  because  there  were  always 
English  troops  lying  at  Berwick,  within  sixty  miles 
of  Edinburgh.  They  haggled  over  the  guarantees, 
and  in  the  meantime,  notwithstanding  the  real  de- 
sire of  Catherine  and  Charles  IX.  to  conclude  an 
alliance  with  Elizabeth  against  Philip,  they  continued 
to  send  money  and  encouragement  to  the  Marian* 
lords  in  Scotland.  For  if,  for  any  reason,  the  Eng- 
lish alliance  should  not  come  off,  they  meant  to  take 
up  Mary's  cause  in  earnest,  and  detach  her  from  her 
Guise  relations  by  marrying  her  to  the  Duke  of 
Anjou,  afterwards  Henry  III. 

All  this  was  known  to  Elizabeth,  and  in  her  ex- 
treme anxiety  for  the  tripartite  treaty,  she  thought 
the  moment  was  come  to  dangle  the  bait  which  she 
alwaj^s  reserved  for  occasions  of  special  importance. 
She  informed  the  French  ambassador  that  she  was 
ready  to  marry  Anjou  herself.  It  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  she  had  the  least  intention  of  doing  so. 
She  had  settled  with  herself  from  the  first  how  she 
would  get  out  of  her  proposal  when  it  had  served 
its  turn. 

A  minor  motive  for  this  move  was  the  hope  that 

*  This  word,  which  means  "  pertaining  to  Mary,"  was  first 
applied  to  the  adherents  of  Mary  I.  ( Bloody  Mary),  but  it 
fits  almost  equally  the  adherents  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots. 


114  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

it  would  reconcile  her  Protestant  councillors  to  the 
restoration  of  Mary.  She  did  not  succeed  with  all 
of  them.  Some  continued  to  mutter  that  An  jou  was 
a  Papist,  that  tripartite  treaties  were  a  delusion,  and 
that  the  only  safe  course  was  to  grasp  the  Scotch 
nettle  and  uphold  James  with  the  whole  force  of 
England.  But  upon  Cecil  the  effect  was  almost 
comical.  He  jumped  at  the  plan.  Anything  that 
was  likely  to  make  Elizabeth  a  mother  would  be 
salvation  to  him.  Whether  the  Queen  at  the  mature 
age  of  thirty-seven  was  likely  to  be  happy  with  a 
husband  of  twenty  was  a  question  that  did  not  give 
him  a  moment's  concern.  She  was  not  too  old  to 
have  two  or  three  children,  and,  that  result  once 
achieved,  Mary  might  go  to  Scotland  or  anywhere 
else  for  what  he  cared,  and  do  her  worst.  The 
sanguine  man  already  saw  visions  of  a  converted 
Yalois  heading  an  Anglo-French  crusade  against 
Philip,  and  establishing  the  reformed  faith  through- 
out Europe.  Walsingham,  his  right-hand  man,  then 
ambassador  at  Paris,  was  equally  bitten.  This  was 
in  the  year  before  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew. 
The  overture  of  Elizabeth  was  very  welcome  to 
the  French  court.  Negotiations  for  the  match  were 
soon  opened,  and  continued  during  the  first  six 
months  of  1571.  At  the  same  time,  both  the  Scotch 
factions  were  summoned   to  accept    the  tripartite 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1573.  115 

arrangement.  Mary  was  at  first  eager  for  it,  and 
instructed  her  agent,  the  Bishop  of  Eoss,  to  swallow 
every  condition  that  might  be  imposed.  She  looked 
on  it  as  the  only  means  of  obtaining  her  release. 
But  there  is  ample  proof  that  she  intended  to  throw 
its  stipulations  to  the  winds  and  iight  for  her  own 
cause  when  once  she  should  get  back  to  Scotland. 
In  playing  this  perfidious  game,  she  had  confidently 
counted  on  the  help  of  France.  The  Regent's  party, 
however,  declined  the  treaty.  They  dreaded  Mary's 
return,  and  they  had  no  wish  to  shake  hands  with 
the  Marian  lords  or  admit  them  to  a  share  in  the 
Government.  The  tripartite  scheme  thus  fell 
through.  Mary  herself  ceased  to  care  for  it  as  soon 
as  she  heard  of  the  projected  match  between  Eliza- 
beth and  Anjou.  She  saw  that  if  France  was  going 
to  co-operate  heartily  with  England,  her  sovereignty 
in  Scotland  would  be  merely  nominal.  She  might 
almost  as  well  remain  with  Lord  Shrewsbury. 

To  remain  quietly  in  England  and  be  content 
with  her  position  as  heir  presumptive  to  the  English 
crown  was  indeed  the  best  and  safest  course  open  to 
her.  She  had  only  to  acquiesce  in  it  and  give  up 
plotting,  and  she  might  have  lived  here  in  consider- 
able magnificence,  and  with  as  much  freedom  as  she 
could  desire.  If  she  wished  for  a  husband,  she  might 
have  married  any  Englishman  of  whose  loyalty 


IIQ  QUEEN  ELiZABETQ. 

Elizabeth  could  feel  assured.  It  was  of  the  greatest 
importance  to  both  countries  that  she  should  bear 
more  children.  For  it  must  be  remembered  that  if 
James  had  died  in  his  childhood,  his  next  heir  was 
a  Hamilton,  who  had  no  title  to  the  English  throne. 
If  the  proposed  Anjou  match  had  not  produced 
the  full  results  which  Elizabeth  hoped,  it  had  at 
least  defeated  the  plans  and  disorganized  the  party 
of  her  rival.  It  had  served  its  turn ;  and  all  that 
now  remained  was  to  get  out  of  it  as  decently  as 
possible.  The  old  pretext  for  breaking  off  the  Aus- 
trian match  was  reproduced.  Anjou  could  not  be 
allowed  to  have  a  private  mass  ;  and  when,  in  its 
eagerness,  the  French  court  seemed  disposed  to  give 
way  on  this  point,  Elizabeth  began  to  talk  about  a 
restitution  of  Calais.  Ruefully  did  poor  Cecil  watch 
the  vanishing  of  his  dream.  It  was  to  no  purpose 
that  he  tried  to  frighten  Elizabeth  by  representing 
that  a  jilted  prince  would  be  converted  into  an  angry 
enemy.  She  knew  better.  Anjou  comprehended 
that  she  did  not  mean  to  have  him,  and,  to  avoid  the 
indignity  of  a  refusal,  himself  broke  off  negotiations. 
But,  as  Elizabeth  had  calculated,  the  new  alliance 
did  not  suffer.  The  French  King  went  out  of  his 
way  to  say  that  "  for  her  upright  dealing  he  would 
honor  the  Queen  of  England  during  his  life,"  and 
Catherine,  most  unsentimental  of  women,  had  an- 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1572.  117 

Other  suitor  to  offer — her  youngest  son,  Alen^on, 
then  just  turned  seventeen  ! 

While  the  negotiations  for  the  Anjou  match  were 
going  on,  what  is  known  as  the  Ridolfi  Plot  was 
hatching  against  Elizabeth.  Ridolfi,  an  Italian  banker 
in  London,  and  secretly  an  agent  of  the  Pope,  was  in 
close  relations  with  E'orfolk  and  the  other  peers  who 
for  two  years  had  been  dabbling  in  treason.  They 
were  still  pressing  Philip  to  invade  England ;  but  he 
and  Alva  were  less  than  ever  disposed  to  undertake 
the  venture  since  the  pitiful  collapse  of  the  northern 
insurrection.  In  order  to  impress  Philip  with  the 
importance  of  the  conspiracy,  Ridolfi  went  to  Madrid 
and  showed  Philip  a  letter  purporting  to  be  written 
by  Norfolk,  to  which  was  attached  a  list  of  noble- 
men stated  to  be  favorable  to  the  cause.  It  con- 
tained the  names  of  forty  out  of  the  sixty-seven  peers 
then  existing,  while,  of  the  rest,  some  were  marked 
as  neutral,  and  fifteen  at  most  as  true  to  Elizabeth. 
The  classification  was  on  the  face  of  it  absurdly  un- 
trustworthy. But  correct  or  incorrect,  it  did  not 
weigh  with  Philip.  He  wanted  deeds,  not  lists  of 
names,  and  Ridolfi  was  informed  that,  unless  Eliza- 
beth were  first  assassinated  or  imprisoned,  not  a 
Spanish  soldier  could  be  sent  to  England. 

Whatever  secret  disaffection  might  prevail  among 
the  peers,  the  temper  displayed  by  the  new  House 


llg  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

of  Commons,  elected  in  the  spring  of  1571,  was  not 
of  a  kind  to  encourage  Elizabeth's  enemies  at  home 
or  abroad.  So  far  as  can  be  judged  from  its  proceed- 
ings and  debates,  it  was  not  only  entirely  Protestant, 
but  largely  Puritan.*  A  bill  was  passed  by  which 
any  person  refusing,  on  demand,  to  acknowledge 
Elizabeth's  right  to  the  crown  was  made  incapable 
of  succeeding  her ;  a  provision  which,  though  it  did 
not  name  Mary,  could  apply  to  no  one  else.  It  was 
made  high  treason  to  deny  that  the  inheritance  of 
the  crown  could  be  determined  by  the  Queen  and 
Parliament.  To  affirm  in  writing  that  any  particular 
person  was  entitled  to  succeed  the  Queen,  except  the 
Queen's  issue,  or  some  one  established  by  Parliament, 
was  made  punishable  with  imprisonment  for  life, 
and  forfeiture  of  all  property  for  the  second  offence. 
The  plot  which  Ridolfi  was  so  busily  pushing  in 
1571  was,  in  fact,  a  continuation  of  the  twin  aristo- 
cratic conspiracies,  one  of  which  had  exploded  in  the 
northern  insurrection.  By  forcing  that  insurrection 
to  break  out  before  the  southern  conspirators  had 
made  up  their  minds  what  to  do,  the  Government 
had  effectually  destroyed  what  chances  of  success  the 
disaffected  nobles  had  ever  had.    Alva  was  right  in 

*The  oath  of  supremacy  imposed  on  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons  in  1563  practically  excluded  conscientious 
Catholics. 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1572.  119 

his  judgment  that,  if  the  Percys,  IS'evilles,  and  Dacres 
could  do  so  little,  the  Howard  group,  whose  estates, 
vast  as  they  were,  lay,  for  the  most  part,  in  more 
orderly  and  civilized  parts  of  the  country,  could  do 
still  less.  There  was,  indeed,  some  talk  among  them 
of  seizing  the  Queen  at  the  opening  of  the  Parlia- 
ment of  1571,  just  as  there  had  been  a  talk  of 
arresting  Cecil  two  years  before.  But  the  truth  was 
that  insurrection  was  a  played-out  game  in  England ; 
and  if  Norfolk  had  been  a  ten-times  abler  and  bolder 
man  than  he  was,  it  would  have  made  no  difference. 
The  true  history  of  the  time  is  not  to  be  read  in  the 
croakings  and  wailings  privately  exchanged  between 
Cecil,  Walsingham,  and  the  rest  of  the  Protestant 
junto,  angry  and  alarmed  because  Elizabeth  would 
not  let  them  play  her  cards  for  her.  It  is  a  strange 
perversity  which  persists  in  adopting  their  view  that 
she  was  on  the  brink  of  ruin,  when  the  patent  fact  is 
that  Protestantism  was  making  rapid  strides,  that  the 
Queen's  personal  popularity  was  increasing  every 
day,  and  that  Spain,  France  and  Scotland,  the  only 
countries  with  which  she  was  concerned,  were  all 
humble  suitors  for  her  alliance  on  almost  any  terms 
that  it  might  please  her  to  exact.  The  correspon- 
dence of  Philip  with  Alva  is  there  to  prove,  that  while 
writhing  under  the  repeated  aggressions  of  England, 
he  was  obliged  to  put  up  with  them  because  a  war 


120  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

would  imperil  his  hold  on  the  ^Netherlands.  To  all 
the  invitations  of  the  Norfolks  and  ISTorthumberlands, 
the  able  and  well-informed  Alva  turned  a  deaf  ear, 
because  he  believed  Elizabeth  too  strong  to  be  over- 
thrown. A  French  alliance  she  could  always  have 
as  long  as  the  Guises  were  excluded  from  power.  If 
they  regained  their  influence  the  Huguenots  would 
keep  them  fully  occupied.  Scotland,  unless  foreign 
troops  made  their  appearance  there,  could  be  no 
source  of  danger  to  England.  ♦ 

Elizabeth's  policy  was  thus,  in  its  broad  lines,  as  sim- 
ple as  it  was  successful.  At  home  it  was  her  wisdom 
to  wink  as  long  as  possible  at  the  disaffection  of  the 
few,  to  win  the  affection  of  the  many  by  economical 
government,  to  reserve  the  persecuting  laws  for  spe- 
cial cases,  while  preventing  any  general  and  sweep- 
ing application  of  them,  and,  lastly,  to  drive  no  party 
to  desperation  by  a  too  pronounced  encouragement 
of  its  opponents.  Spain,  as  being  the  centre  of  re- 
action and  the  hope  of  her  disloyal  nobles,  she  meant 
to  harass  and  weaken  as  far  as  she  could  do  so  with- 
out bringing  on  an  open  war.  "With  Charles  IX. 
and  his  mother  she  desired  a  defensive  alliance,  and 
an  understanding  that  neither  country  should  send 
troops  into  Scotland  or  permit  Spain  to  do  so.  In 
its  general  conception,  I  repeat,  this  policy  was  simple 
and  coherent.    How  it  succeeded  we  know.    There 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1572.  121 

was  nothing  sentimental  about  it,  though,  where  in- 
dividuals were  concerned,  Elizabeth's  judgment  was 
sometimes  warped  by  sentiment.  Upon  the  whole, 
she  kept  herself  at  the  English  point  of  view.  Where- 
as Cecil  was  compelled  by  personal  considerations  to 
place  himself  too  much  at  the  point  of  view  of  his 
"  brethren  in  Christ,"  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

However,  a  plot  there  was,  and  it  was  necessary 
that  it  should  be  unravelled  and  punished.  Almost 
from  its  inception,  Cecil  (created  Lord  Burghley  Feb- 
ruary, 1571),  had  been  more  or  less  on  the  scent  of 
it.  Hints  had  come  from  abroad :  spies  had  been  em- 
ployed :  suspected  persons  had  been  closely  watched  : 
inferior  agents  had  been  imprisoned,  ques- 
tioned, racked  :  and  enough  had  been  discovered  to 
make  it  certain  that  Englishmen  of  the  highest 
rank  were  plotting  treason.  Who  they  were  might 
be  suspected,  but  was  not  ascertained  until  a  lucky 
arrest  put  the  Minister  in  possession  of  evidence 
incriminating  Norfolk,  Arundel,  Southampton,  Lum- 
ley,  Cobham,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  the  Bishop  of 
Ross,  and  Mary  herself  (September,  1571).  Norfolk 
was  sent  to  the  Tower,  and  the  other  peers  placed 
under  arrest.  The  ambassador  was  dismissed.  The 
Bishop  made  ample  confessions.  Mary,  who  had 
hitherto  lived  as  the  guest  of  Lord  Shrewsbury,  en- 
joying field-sports,  receiving  her  friends  and  corre- 


122  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

spending  with  whom  she  would,  was  confined  to  a 
single  room,  and  carefully  cut  off,  for  a  time,  from 
all  communication  with  the  outer  world.  Both  in 
England  and  abroad  it  was  universally  expected  that 
she  would  be  brought  to  trial  and  executed.  James 
was  at  length  officially  styled  "King"  and  his 
mother  "late  Queen."  Her  partisans  in  Edinburgh 
Castle  were  informed  that  she  would  never  be  re- 
stored, and  that,  if  they  did  not  surrender  the  Castle 
to  the  Eegent  Mar,  an  English  force  would  be  sent 
to  take  it.  The  casket  letters  had  hitherto  been 
withheld  from  publication  under  pressure  from 
Elizabeth  ;  they  were  now  at  last  given  to  the  world 
in  the  famous  "  Detection  "  of  Buchanan. 

Under  any  other  Tudor,  or  under  the  Stuarts,  all 
the  peers  arrested  would  undoubtedly  have  lost 
their  heads.  I^orf oik  alone  was  brought  to  trial  (Jan- 
uary, 1572).  There  was  much  in  the  proceedings 
which,  according  to  modern  notions,  was  unfair  to 
the  accused.  But  the  peers  who  tried  him  felt  sure 
that  he  was  guilty,  and  they  were  right.  Subsequent 
investigations  have  established  beyond  a  doubt  that 
he  had  conspired  to  bring  a  foreign  army  into  the 
country — the  worst  form  that  treason  can  take. 
He  had  done  this  with  contemptible  hypocrisy,  for 
a  purely  selfish  object,  and  after  the  most  lenient 
and  generous  construction  had  been  placed  on  his 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1572.  123 

first  steps  in  crime.  And  yet  historians  have  been 
found  to  make  light  of  the  offence,  and  to  pity  the 
malefactor  as  the  victim  of  a  romantic  attachment 
to  a  woman  whom  he  had  never  seen,  and  whom  he 
believed  to  be  an  adulteress  and  a  murderess. 

During  the  spring  of  1572  Elizabeth  hesitated  to 
let  justice  take  its  course.  She  had  reigned  fourteen 
years  without  taking  the  life  of  a  single  noble.  The 
scaffold  on  Tower  Plill  from  such  long  disuse  was 
falling  to  pieces,  and  ^N'orfolk's  sentence  had  made  it 
necessary  to  erect  a  new  one.  Elizabeth  was  loath 
to  break  the  spell. 

Not  knowing  with  any  certainty  how  many  of  her 
nobles  might  have  given  more  or  less  approval  to  the 
Hidolfi  plot,  but  confident  that  she  could  cow  them  by 
letting  the  voice  of  the  untitled  aristocracy  and  mid- 
dle class  be  heard,  she  called  a  new  Parliament  (May, 
1572).  The  response  went  beyond  her  expectation. 
Of  Mary's  well-wishers,  once  so  numerous,  all  except 
a  few  fanatics  had  now  given  her  up.  Two  alter- 
native courses  of  action  with  respect  to  her  were  sub- 
mitted for  consideration,  with  the  intimation  that 
the  Queen  would  accept  whichever  of  them  Parlia- 
ment should  approve.  The  first  was  attainder. 
The  second  was  that  she  should  be  disabled  from 
succession  to  the  crown ;  that  if  she  attempted  trea- 
son again  she  should  "  suffer  pains  of  death  without 


124:  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

further  trouble  of  Parliament ; "  and  that  it  should 
be  treason  if  she  assented  to  any  enterprise  to  deliver 
her  out  of  prison.  Both  houses  at  once  voted  to  pro- 
ceed with  the  attainder.  Elizabeth,  we  may  be  sure, 
was  not  sorry  for  this  unmistakable  exhibition  of 
feeling.  It  would  open  the  eyes  of  her  enemies  both 
at  home  and  abroad.  But  she  had  no  intention  of 
proceeding  to  such  extremities  this  time.  Mary 
should  have  fair  warning.  Accordingly  Parliament 
was  desired  to  ''  defer  "  the  bill  of  attainder,  and  to 
proceed  with  the  second  measure.  But  the  Com- 
mons were  in  grim  earnest.  They  immediately  re- 
solved that  the  second  bill  would  be  useless  and  even 
mischievous,  as  it  would  imply  that  at  present  Mary 
had  a  right  of  succession,  whereas  she  was  already 
disabled  by  law  ;  and  that  they  therefore  preferred 
to  proceed  with  the  attainder.  With  this  resolution 
the  Lords  concurred. 

Here  they  were  on  dangerous  ground.  To  rake 
up  the  law  empowering  Henry  YIII.  to  determine 
the  succession  was  to  disable  all  the  Stuarts,  James 
included,  and  so  to  throw  away  the  opportunity  of 
uniting  the  crowns.  Elizabeth  had  always,  for  excel- 
lent reasons,  refused  to  allow  this  question  to  be 
raised.  Accordingly  she  again  directed  the  House 
to  defer  the  attainder ;  she  would  not  have  the  Scot- 
tish Queen  "either  enabled  or  disabled  to  or  from 


ARISTOCRATIC  PLOTS  :  1568-1573.  125 

any  manner  of  title  to  the  crown,"  nor  "  any  other 
title  to  the  same  whatsoever  touched  at  all ; "  to  make 
sure  of  which  she  would  have  the  second  bill  drawn 
up  by  her  own  law  officers.  To  the  repeated  demands 
of  the  Commons  for  the  execution  of  ^Norfolk,  she 
at  length  gave  way,  and  a  few  days  later  he  was  be- 
headed (June  2,  15Y2).  The  second  bill,  as  drawn  by 
the  law  officers,  passed  both  Houses.  Its  exact  terms 
are  not  known,  for  it  never  received  the  royal  assent. 
Burghley  who  was  of  opinion  (as  someone  after- 
wards said  about  Strafford)  that  '^  stone  dead  hath 
no  fellow,"  bemoaned  himself  privately  to  Walsing- 
ham  on  the  disappointment  of  their  hopes ;  and 
modern  historians,  with  whom  his  authority  is  final, 
are  loud  in  their  condemnation  of  Elizabeth's  vacil- 
lation and  blindness.  Yacillation  there  was  really 
none.  She  had  determined  from  the  first  not  to  allow 
Mary  to  be  punished.  She  had  gained  all  she  wanted 
when  the  temper  of  Parliament  had  been  ascertained 
and  displayed  to  the  world.  There  have  always 
been  plenty  of  people  to  accuse  her  of  treachery  and 
cruelty  because  she  put  Mary  to  death  fifteen  years 
later,  for  complicity  in  an  assassination  plot.  How 
would  her  name  have  gone  down  to  posterity  if  the 
Scottish  Queen  had  been  executed  in  1572  merely 
for  inviting  a  foreign  army  to  rescue  her  from 
captivity  ? 


126  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTEE  YL 

FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  ',    15Y2-1583. 

The  year  15Y2  witnessed  two  events  of  capital 
importance  in  European  history :  the  rising  in  the 
ISTetherlands,  which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of 
the  Dutch  Kepublic  (April) ;  *  and  the  massacre  of 
St.  Bartholomew,  which  marked  the  decisive  rejec- 
tion of  Protestantism  by  France  (August).f 

In  the  beginning  of  that  year— a  few  weeks  before 
the  proceedings  in  Parliament  just  narrated — Eliza- 
beth had  at  last  concluded  the  defensive  alliance 
with  France  for  which  she  had  been  so  long  negoti- 
ating (April  19).  It  cannot  be  too  often  repeated 
that  this  was  the  corner-stone  of  her  foreign  policy. 

*  The  Dutch  under  Admiral  de  la  Marck  Cor  van  der 
Mark)  and  Treslong  captured  Brill  April  1,  1572.  A  few- 
days  later  the  citizens  of  Flushing,  under  the  leadership  of 
the  Seigneur  de  Herpt,  a  warm  partisan  of  Orange,  expelled 
the  Spaniards  from  that  city,  In  these  two  overt  acts,  the 
struggle  of  the  Dutch  for  independence  was  begun. 

f  This  hideous  butchery  takes  its  name  from  the  day  on 
which  it  was  chiefly  committed.  The  massacre  began  on  the 
night  of  August  23-24,  1572.  By  the  Catholic  party  it  was 
hailed  as  a  religious  triumph,  an  honor  to  the  saint,  whose 
calendar  day  was  August  24. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  127 

For  the  sake  of  its  superior  importance  she  had  ab- 
stained from  the  interference  in  Scotland  which  her 
Ministers  were  always  urging.  The  more  she  inter- 
fered there  the  more  she  would  have  to  interfere, 
till  it  would  end  in  her  having  a  rebellious  province 
on  her  hands  in  addition  to  the  hostility  of  both 
France  and  Spain  ;  whereas  an  alliance  with  France 
would  give  her  security  on  all  sides,  Scotland  in- 
cluded. In  the  treaty  it  was  agreed  that  if  either 
country  were  invaded  "under  any  pretence  or 
cause,  none  excepted,"  the  other  should  send  6000 
troops  to  its  assistance.  This  was  accompanied 
with  an  explanation,  in  the  King's  handwriting,  that 
"  any  cause  "  included  religion.  The  article  relating 
to  Scotland  is  not  less  significant.  The  two  sov- 
ereigns "  shall  make  no  innovations  in  Scotland,  but 
defend  it  against  foreigners,  not  suffering  strangers 
to  enter,  or  foment  the  factions  in  Scotland  ;  but  it 
shall  be  lawful  for  the  Queen  of  England  to  chastise 
by  arms  the  Scots  who  shall  countenance  the  Eng- 
lish rebels  now  in  Scotland."  Mary  was  not  men- 
tioned. France  therefore  tacitly  renounced  her 
cause.  Immediately  after  the  conclusion  of  the 
treaty  Charles  IX.  formally  proposed  a  marriage  be- 
tween Elizabeth  and  his  youngest  brother,  Alen9on. 
This  proposal  she  managed  to  encourage  and  elude 
for  eleven  years. 


128  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

It  was  just  at  this  moment  that  the  seizure  of 
Brill  by  some  Dutch  rovers,  who  had  taken  refuge 
on  the  sea  from  the  cruelty  of  Alva,  caused  most  of 
the  towns  of  Holland  and  Zealand  to  blaze  into  re- 
bellion ( April  1 ).  Thus  began  the  great  war  of 
liberation,  which  was  to  last  thirty-seven  years. 
The  Protestant  party  in  England  hailed  the  revolt 
with  enthusiasm.  Large  subscriptions  were  made 
to  assist  it,  and  volunteers  poured  across  to  take  part 
in  the  struggle.  Charles  IX.  and  his  mother,  full 
of  schemes  of  conquest  in  the  ]S"etherlands,  urged 
Elizabeth  to  join  them  in  a  war  against  Philip. 
But,  with  a  sagacity  and  self-restraint  which  do  her 
infinite  honor,  she  refused  to  be  drawn  beyond  the 
lines  laid  down  in  the  recent  defensive  alliance. 
Security,  economy,  fructification  of  the  tax-payers' 
money  in  the  tax-payers'  pocket — such  were  the 
guiding  principles  of  her  policy.  She  was  not  to  be 
dragged  into  dangerous  enterprises  either  ambitious 
or  Quixotic.  Schemes  for  the  partition  of  the  Neth- 
erlands were  laid  before  her.  Zealand,  it  was  said, 
would  indemnify  her  for  Calais.  "What  Englishman 
with  any  common  sense  does  not  now  see  that  she 
was  right  to  reject  the  bribe  ? 

To  Elizabeth  no  rebellion  against  a  legitimate 
sovereign  could  be  welcome  in  itself.  Since  Philip 
■^vas  so  possessed  by  religious  bigotry  as  to  be  danger- 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  129 

ous  to  all  Protestant  States,  she  was  not  sorry  that 
he  should  wear  out  his  crusading  ardor  in  the 
Netherlands  ;  and  she  was  ready  to  give  just  as 
much  assistance  to  the  Dutch,  in  an  underhand  way, 
as  would  keep  him  fully  occupied  without  bringing 
a  declaration  of  war  upon  herself.  But  she  would 
have  vastly  preferred  that  he  should  repress  Catholic 
and  Protestant  fanatics  alike,  and  get  along  quietly 
with  the  mass  of  his  subjects  as  his  father  had  done 
before  him.  Charles  IX.  was  eager  to  strike  in  if 
she  would  join  him.  Those  who  blame  her  so 
severely  for  her  refusal  seem  to  forget  that  a  French 
conquest  of  the  Netherlands  would  have  been  far 
more  dangerous  to  this  country  than  their  possession 
by  Spain.  To  keep  them  out  of  French  hands  has 
indeed  been  the  traditional  policy  of  England  during 
the  whole  of  modern  history. 

But,  it  is  said,  such  a  war  would  have  clinched 
the  alliance  recently  patched  up  between  the  French 
court  and  the  Huguenots ;  there  would  have  been 
no  Bartholomew  Massacre  ;  "  on  Elizabeth  depended 
at  that  moment  whether  the  French  Government 
would  take  its  place  once  for  all  on  the  side  of  the 
Keformation." 

Whether  it  would  have  been  for  the  advantage 
of  European  progress  in  the  long-run  that  France 
should  settle  down  into  Calvinism,  I  will  forbear 


130  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

to  inquire.  Fortunately  for  the  immediate  interests 
of  England,  Elizabeth  understood  the  situation  in 
France  better  than  some  of  her  critics  do,  even  with 
the  results  before  their  eyes.  The  Huguenots  were 
but  a  small  fraction  of  the  nation.  Whatever  im- 
portance they  possessed  they  derived  from  their 
rank,  their  turbulence,  and  the  ambition  of  their 
leaders.  In  a  few  towns  of  the  south  and  south- 
west they  formed  a  majority  of  the  population. 
But  everywhere  else  they  were  mostly  noblemen, 
full  of  the  arrogance  and  reckless  valor  of  their 
class,  anything  but  puritans  in  their  morals,  and 
ready  to  destroy  the  unity  of  the  kingdom  for 
political  no  less  than  for  religious  objects.  They  had 
been  losing  ground  for  several  years.  The  mass 
of  the  people  abhorred  their  doctrines,  and  pro- 
tested against  any  concession  to  their  pretensions. 
Charles  and  his  mother  were  absolutely  careless 
about  religion.  Their  feud  with  the  Guises  and 
their  designs  on  the  Netherlands  had  led  them  to 
invite  the  Huguenot  chiefs  to  court,  and  so  to  give 
them  a  momentary  influence  in  shaping  the  policy 
of  France.  It  was  with  nothing  more  solid  to  lean 
on  than  this  rickety  and  short-lived  combination 
that  Burghley  and  Walsingham  were  eager  to  launch 
England  into  a  war  with  the  most  powerful  mon- 
archy in  Europe. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  131 

The  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  (August  24) 
was  a  rude  awakening  from  these  dreams.  That 
thunder  clap  did  not  show  that,  in  signing  the 
treaty  with  England  and  in  proposing  an  attack  on 
Philip,  the  French  Government  had  been  playing  a 
treacherous  game  all  along,  in  order  to  lure  the 
Huguenots  to  the  shambles.  But  it  did  show  that 
when  the  Catholic  sentiment  in  France  was  thorough- 
ly roused,  the  dynasty  itself  must  bend  before  it 
or  be  swept  away,  England  might  help  the 
Huguenots  to  keep  up  a  desultory  and  harassing 
civil  war  ;  she  could  no  more  enable  them  to  control 
the  policy  of  the  French  nation  and  wield  its  force, 
than  she  could  at  the  present  day  restore  the 
Bourbons  or  Bonapartes 

The  first  idea  of  Elizabeth  and  her  ministers,  on  re- 
ceiving the  news  of  the  massacre,  naturally  was  that 
the  French  Government  had  been  playing  them  false 
from  the  first,  that  the  Catholic  League  for  the  extir- 
pation of  heresy  in  Europe,  which  had  been  so  much 
talked  of  since  the  Bayonne  interview  in  1565,  was 
after  all  a  reality,  and  that  England  might  expect  an 
attack  from  the  combined  forces  of  Spain  and  France. 
Thanks  to  the  prudent  policy  of  Elizabeth,  England 
was  in  a  far  better  position  to  meet  all  dangers  than 
she  had  been  in  1565.  The  fleet  was  brought  round 
to  the  Downs.    The  coast  was  guarded  by  militia. 


132  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

An  expedition  was  organized  to  co-operate  with  the 
Dutch  insurgents.  Money  was  sent  to  the  Prince  of 
Orange.  Huguenot  refugees  were  allowed  to  fit  out  a 
flotilla  to  assist  their  co-religionists  in  Eochelle.  The 
Scotch  Regent  Mar  was  informed,  with  great  secrecy, 
that  if  he  would  demand  the  extradition  of  Mary, 
and  undertake  to  punish  her  capitally  for  her  hus- 
band's murder,  she  should  be  given  up  to  him. 

A  few  weeks  sufficed  to  show  that  there  was  no 
reason  for  panic.  Confidence,  indeed,  between  the 
French  and  English  Governments  had  been  severely 
shaken.  Each  stood  suspiciously  on  its  guard.  But 
the  alliance  was  too  well  grounded  in  the  interests 
of  both  parties  to  be  lightly  cast  aside.  The  French 
ambassador  was  instructed  to  excuse  and  deplore  the 
massacre  as  best  he  could,  and  to  press  on  the  Alen- 
9on  marriage.  Elizabeth,  dressed  in  deep  mourning, 
gave  him  a  stiff  reception,  but  let  him  see  her  desire 
to  maintain  the  alliance.  The  massacre  did  not  re- 
store the  ascendancy  of  the  Guises.  To  the  Hugue- 
nots, as  religious  reformers,  it  gave  a  blow  from 
which  they  did  not  recover.  But  as  a  political  fac- 
tion they  were  not  crushed.  Nay,  their  very  weak- 
ness became  their  salvation,  since  it  compelled  them 
to  fall  into  the  second  rank  behind  the  Politiques^  the 
true  party  of  progress,  who  were  before  long  to  find 
a  victorious  leader  in  Henry  of  Navarre. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  133 

Philip,  for  his  part,  was  equally  far  from  any 
thought  of  a  crusade  against  England.  Sir  Hum- 
phrey Gilbert,  commanding  several  companies  of 
English  volunteers,  with  the  hardly  concealed  sanc- 
tion of  his  government,  was  fighting  against  the 
Spaniards  in  Walcheren  and  hanging  all  his  pris- 
oners. Sir  John  Hawkins,  with  twenty  ships,  had 
sailed  to  intercept  the  Mexican  treasure  fleet.  Yet 
Alva,  though  gnashing  his  teeth,  was  obliged  to  ad- 
vise his  master  to  swallow  it  all,  and  to  be  thankful 
if  he  could  get  Elizabeth  to  reopen  commercial  inter- 
course, which  had  been  prohibited  on  both  sides  since 
the  quarrel  about  the  Genoese  treasure.  A  treaty 
for  this  purpose  was  in  fact  concluded  early  in  1573. 
Thus  the  chief  result  of  the  Bartholomew  Massacre, 
as  far  as  Elizabeth  was  concerned,  was  to  show  how 
strong  her  position  was,  and  that  she  had  no  need 
either  to  truckle  to  Catholics  or  let  her  hand  be 
forced  by  Protestants.  A  balance  of  power  on  the 
Continent  was  what  suited  her,  as  it  has  generally 
suited  this  country.  Let  her  critics  say  what  they 
will,  it  was  no  business  of  hers  to  organize  a  Protest- 
ant league,  and  so  drive  the  Catholic  sovereigns  to 
sink  their  mutual  jealousies  and  combine  against  the 
common  enemy. 

The  Scotch  Kegent  was  quite  ready  to  undertake 
the  punishment  of  Mary,  but  only  on  condition  that 


134:  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

Elizabeth  would  send  the  Earl  of  Bedford  or  the  Earl 
of  Huntingdon  with  an  army  to  be  present  at  the 
execution  and  to  take  Edinburgh  Castle.  It  need 
hardly  be  said  that  there  was  also  a  demand  for 
money.  Mar  died  during  the  negotiations,  but  they 
were  continued  by  his  successor  Morton.  Elizabeth 
was  determined  to  give  no  open  consent  to  Mary's 
execution.  She  meant,  no  doubt,  as  soon  as  it  should 
be  over,  to  protest,  as  she  did  fifteen  years  afterwards, 
that  there  had  been  an  unfortunate  mistake,  and  to 
lay  the  blame  of  it  on  the  Scotch  Government  and 
her  own  agents.  This  part  of  the  negotiation  there- 
fore came  to  nothing.  But  money  was  sent  to  Mor- 
ton, which  enabled  him  to  establish  a  blockade  of 
Edinburgh  Castle,  and  by  the  mediation  of  Eliza- 
beth's ambassador,  the  Hamiltons,  Gordons,  and  all 
the  other  Marians  except  those  in  the  Castle,  ac- 
cepted the  very  favorable  terms  offered  them,  and 
recognized  James. 

All  that  remained  was  to  reduce  the  Castle.  Its 
defenders  numbered  less  than  two  hundred  men.  The 
city  and  the  surrounding  country  were — as  far  as 
preaching  and  praying  went — vehemently  anti- 
Marian.  The  Eegent  had  now  no  other  military  task 
on  his  hands.  Elizabeth  might  well  complain  when 
she  was  told  that  unless  she  sent  an  army  and  paid 
the  Scotch  Protestants  to  co-operate  with  it,  the 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  135 

Castle  could  not  be  taken.  For  some  time  she  re- 
sisted this  thoroughly  Scotch  demand.  But  at  last 
she  yielded  to  Morton's  importunity.  Sir  William 
Drury  marched  in  from  Berwick,  did  the  job,  and 
marched  back  again  (May  1573).*  Among  the  cap- 
tives were  the  brilliant  Maitland  of  Lethington,  once 
the  most  active  of  Anglophiles,  and  Kirkaldy  of 
Grange,  who  had  begun  the  Scottish  Eeformation  by 
the  murder  of  Cardinal  Beaton,  and  had  taken  Mary 
prisoner  at  Carberry  Hill.f  A  politician  who  did 
not  turn  his  coat  at  least  once  in  his  life  was  a  rare 
bird  in  Scotland.  Maitland  died  a  few  days  after 
his  capture,  probably  by  his  own  hand.  Kirkaldy 
was  hanged  by  his  old  friend  Morton. 

By  taking  Edinburgh  Castle  Elizabeth  did  not  earn 
any  gratitude  from  the  party  who  had  called  her  in. 
What  they  wanted,  and  always  would  want,  was 
money.  Morton  himself,  treading  in  the  steps  of  his 
old  leader  Moray,  remained  an  unswerving  Anglo- 
phile. But  his  coadjutors  told  the  English  ambas- 
sador plainly  that,  if  they  could  not  get  money  from 
England,  they  could  and  would  earn  it  from  France. 

*  The  English  army  of  Sir  William  Drury,  Marshal  of  the 
army  of  Scotland,  arrived  in  Edinburgh  April  17.  On  May  21, 
the  siege  guns  being  in  position,  he  opened  fire.  One  week 
later  the  magnificent  castle,  not  impregnable  to  modern  artil- 
lery surrendered. 

t  See  pp.  29  and  79. 


136  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

Elizabeth's  councillors  were  always  teasing  her  to 
comply  with  these  impudent  demands.  If  there  had 
been  a  grown-up  King  on  the  throne,  a  man  with  a 
will  of  his  own,  and  whose  right  to  govern  could  not 
be  contested,  it  might  have  been  worth  while  to  se- 
cure his  good- will  by  a  pension  ;  and  this  was  what 
Elizabeth  did  when  James  became  real  ruler  of  the 
country.  But  she  did  not  believe  in  paying  a  clique 
of  greedy  lords  to  call  themselves  the  English  party. 
An  English  party  there  was  sure  to  be,  if  only  be- 
cause there  was  a  French  party.  Their  services 
would  be  neither  greater  nor  smaller  whether  they 
were  paid  or  unpaid.  The  French  poured  money 
into  Scotland,  and  v*^ere  worse  served  than  Elizabeth, 
who  kept  her  money  in  her  treasury.  It  was  no  fault 
of  Elizabeth  if  the  conditions  of  political  life  in  Scot- 
land during  the  King's  minority  were  such  that  a 
firmly  established  government  was  in  the  nature  of 
things  impossible. 

As  Mary  was  kept  in  strict  seclusion  during  the 
panic  that  followed  on  the  St.  Bartholomew  Mas- 
sacre, she  did  not  know  how  narrow  was  her  escape 
from  a  shameful  death  on  a  Scottish  scaJffold.  When 
the  panic  subsided  she  was  allowed  to  resume  her 
former  manner  of  life  as  the  honored  guest  of  Lord 
Shrewsbury,  with  full  opportunities  for  communi- 
cation with  all  her  friends  at  home  and  abroad. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  137 

Any  alarm  she  had  felt  speedily  disappeared.  If 
Elizabeth  had  for  a  moment  contemplated  striking 
at  her  life  or  title  by  parliamentary  procedure,  that 
intention  was  evidently  abandoned  when  the  Par- 
liament of  1572  was  prorogued  without  any  such 
measure  becoming  law.  The  public  assumed,  and, 
rightly,  that  Elizabeth  still  regarded  the  Scottish 
Queen  as  her  successor.  Peter  Wentworth  in  the 
next  session  (1576)  asserted,  and  probably  with  truth, 
that  many  who  had  been  loud  in  their  demands  for 
severity  repented  of  their  forwardness  when  they 
found  that  Mary  might  yet  be  their  Queen,  and 
tried  to  make  their  peace  with  her.  Wentworth's 
outburst  (for  which  he  was  sent  to  the  Tower)  was 
the  only  demonstration  against  Mary  in  that  ses- 
sion. She  told  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow  that  her 
prospects  had  never  been  better,  and  when  oppor- 
tunities for  secret  escape  were  offered  her  she 
declined  to  use  them,  thinking  that  it  was  for  her 
interest  to  remain  in  England. 

The  desire  of  the  English  Queen  to  reinstate  her 
rival  arose  principally  from  an  uneasy  consciousness 
that,  by  detaining  her  in  custody,  she  was  fatally 
impairing  that  religious  respect  for  sovereigns  which 
was  the  main,  if  not  the  only,  basis  of  their  power. 
The  scaffold  of  Fotheringay  was,  in  truth,  the  pre- 
lude to  the  scaffold  of  Whitehall.    But  as  year 


138  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

succeeded  year,  and  Elizabeth  became  habituated  to 
the  situation   which  had  at  first  given  her   such 
qualms,  she  could  not  shut  her  eyes  to  the  fact  that, 
troublesome  and  even  dangerous  as  Mary's  presence 
in  England  was,  the  trouble   and  the  danger  had 
been  very  much  greater  when  she  was  seated  on  the 
Scottish  throne.     The    seething  caldron  of  Scotch 
politics  had  not  indeed,  become  a  negligible  quan- 
tity.   It  required   watching.     But  experience  had 
shown  that,  while  the  King  was  a  child  the  Scots 
were  neither  valuable  as    friends  nor   formidable 
as  foes.     This  was  a  truth  quite  well  understood 
at  Paris  and  Madrid   as  at  London,   though  the 
French,  no  less  keen  in  those  days  than  they  are 
now  to  maintain  that  shadowy  thing  called  "  legiti- 
mate French  influence"    in  countries  with  which 
they  had   any  historical   connection,  continued  to 
intrigue  and  waste  their  money  among  the  hungry 
Scotch  nobles.     It  was  a  fixed  principle  with  Eliza- 
beth, as  with  all  English  statesmen,  not  to  tolerate 
the  presence  of  foreign  troops  in  Scotland.     But  she 
believed — and  her  belief  was  justified  by  events — 
that  a  French  expedition  was  not  the  easy  matter 
it  had  been  when  Mary  of   Guise   was   Kegent  of 
Scotland  and  Mary  Tudor  Queen  of  England.     And, 
more  important  still,  in  spite  of    much    treachery 
and  distrust,  the  French  and  English  Governments 


.     FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1588.  139 

were  bound  together  by  a  treaty  which  was  equally 
necessary  to  each  of  them.  Scotland,  therefore,  was 
no  longer  such  a  cause  of  anxiety  to  Elizabeth  as 
it  had  been  during  the  first  ten  years  of  her  reign. 
Her  ministers  had  neither  her  coolness  nor  her  in- 
sight. Yet  modern  historians,  proud  of  having 
unearthed  their  croaking  criticisms,  ask  us  to  judge 
Elizabeth's  policy  by  prognostications  which  turned 
out  to  be  false  rather  than  by  the  known  results 
which  so  brilliantly  justified  it. 

How  to  deal  with  the  ^Netherlands  was  a  much 
more  complicated  and  difficult  problem.  Here 
again  Elizabeth's  ministers  were  for  carrying  mat- 
ters with  a  high  hand.  In  their  view,  England  was 
in  constant  danger  of  a  Spanish  invasion,  which 
could  only  be  averted  by  openly  and  vigorously  sup- 
porting the  revolted  provinces.  They  would  have 
had  Elizabeth  place  herself  at  the  head  of  a  Protes- 
tant league,  and  dare  the  worst  that  Philip  could 
do.  She,  on  the  other  hand,  believed  that  every 
year  war  could  be  delayed  was  so  much  gained  for 
England.  There  were  many  ways  in  which  she 
could  aid  the  Netherlands  without  openly  challeng- 
ing Philip.  A  curious  theory  of  international  rela- 
tions prevailed  in  those  days — an  English  Prime 
Minister,  by  the  way,  found  it  convenient  not  long 
ago  to  revive  it — according  to  which,  to  carry  on 


140  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

warlike  operations  against  another  country  was  a 
very  different  thing  from  going  to  war  with  that 
country.  Of  this  theory  Elizabeth  largely  availed 
herself.  English  generals  were  not  only  allowed, 
but  encouraged,  to  raise  regiments  of  volunteers  to 
serve  in  the  Low  Countries.  When  there,  they 
reported  to  the  English  Government,  and  received 
instructions  from  it  with  hardly  a  pretence  of  con- 
cealment. Money  was  openly  furnished  to  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  English  fleets — also  nominally 
of  volunteers — were  encouraged  to  prey  on  Spanish 
commerce,  Elizabeth  herself  subscribing  to  their 
outfit  and  sharing  in  the  booty. 

We  are  not  to  suppose,  because  the  revolt  of  the 
Netherlands  crippled  Philip  for  any  attack  on  Eng- 
land, that  Elizabeth  welcomed  it,  or  that  she  con- 
templated the  prolongation  of  the  struggle  with 
cold-blooded  satisfaction.  Its  immediate  advantage 
to  this  country  was  obvious.  But  Elizabeth  had  a 
sincere  abhorrence  of  war  and  disorder.  She  was 
equally  provoked  with  Philip  for  persecuting  the 
Dutch  Protestants  into  rebellion,  and  with  the 
Dutch  for  insisting  on  religious  concessions  which 
Philip  could  not  be  expected  to  grant,  and  which 
she  herself  was  not  granting  to  Catholics  in  England. 
At  any  time  during  the  struggle,  if  Philip  would  have 
guaranteed  liberty  of  conscience  (as  distinguished 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1573-1583.  141 

from  liberty  of  public  worship),  the  restoration  of  the 
old  charters,  and  the  removal  of  the  Spanish  troops, 
Elizabeth  would  not  only  have  withheld  all  help 
from  the  Dutch,  but  would  have  put  pressure  on 
them  to  submit  to  Philip.  The  presence  of  Spanish 
veterans  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  was  a 
standing  menace  to  England.  "  As  they  are  there," 
argued  Burghley,  "  we  must  help  the  Dutch  to  keep 
them  employed."  "If  the  Dutch  were  not  such 
impracticable  fanatics,"  rejoined  Elizabeth,  "the 
Spanish  veterans  need  not  be  there  at  all." 

The  "  Pacification  of  Ghent"  (November  1576), 
by  which  the  Belgian  Netherlands,  for  a  short  time, 
made  common  cause  with  Holland  and  Zealand,  re- 
lieved Elizabeth,  for  a  time,  from  the  necessity  of 
taking  any  decisive  step.  Philip  was  still  recog- 
nized as  a  sovereign,  but  he  was  required  to  be 
content  with  such  powers  as  the  old  constitution 
gave  him.  It  seemed  likely  that  Catholic  bigots 
would  have  to  give  up  persecuting,  and  Protestant 
bigots  to  acquiesce  in  the  official  establishment  of 
the  old  religion.  This  was  precisely  the  settlement 
Elizabeth  had  always  desired.  It  would  get  rid  of 
the  Spanish  troops.  It  would  keep  out  the  French, 
it  would  relieve  her  from  the  necessity  of  interfer- 
ing. If  it  put  some  restriction  on  the  open  profes- 
sion of  Calvinism  she  would  not  be  sorry. 


142  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

If  this  arrangement  could  have  been  carried  out, 
would  it  in  the  long-run  have  been  for  the  benefit 
of  Europe  ?  Those  who  hold  that  the  conflict  be- 
tween Protestantism  and  Catholicism  was  simply  a 
conflict  between  truth  and  falsehood  will,  of  course, 
have  no  difiiculty  in  giving  their  answer.  Others 
may  hold  that  freedom  of  conscience  was  all  that 
was  needed  at  the  time,  and  they  may  picture  the 
many  advantages  which  Europe  would  have  reaped 
during  the  last  three  centuries  from  the  existence 
of  a  united  JSTetherlands,  independent,  as  it  must 
soon  have  become,  of  Spain,  and  able  to  make  its 
independence  respected  by  its  neighbors. 

Short-lived  as  the  coalition  was  destined  to  be,  it 
secured  for  the  Dutch  a  breathing-time  when  they 
were  most  sorely  pressed,  and  enabled  Elizabeth  to 
avoid  quarrelling  with  Spain.  The  first  step  of 
the  newly  allied  States  was  to  apply  to  her  for 
assistance  and  a  loan  of  money.  The  loan  they 
obtained — £40,000 — a  very  large  sum  in  those  days. 
But  she  earnestly  advised  them  that  if  the  new 
Governor,  Don  John  of  Austria,  would  accept  the 
Pacification,  they  should  use  the  money  to  pay  the 
arrears  of  the  Spanish  troops ;  otherwise  they  would 
refuse  to  leave  the  country  for  Don  John  or  any 
one  else.  This  was  done.  Don  John  had  treachery 
in  his  heart.    But  the  departure  of  the  Spaniards 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1573-1583.  143 

was  a  solid  gain ;  and  if  the  Protestants  and  Cath- 
olics of  the  Netherlands  had  been  able  to  tolerate 
each  other,  they  Avould  have  achieved  the  practical 
independence  of  their  country,  and  achieved  it  by 
their  own  unaided  efforts. 

But  Don  John,  the  crusader,  the  victor  of  Le- 
panto,*  the  half-brother  of  Philip,  was  a  man  of 
soaring  ambition.  His  dream  was  to  invade  Eng- 
land, marry  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and  seat  himself 
with  her  on  the  English  throne.  It  was  in  vain 
that  Philip,  who  never  wavered  in  his  desire  to  con- 
ciliate Elizabeth,  and  was  jealous  of  his  showy 
brother,  had  strictly  enjoined  him  to  leave  England 
alone.  He  persisted  in  his  design,  and  sent  his  con- 
fidant Escovedo  to  persuade  Philip  that  to  conquer 
the  Netherlands  it  was  necessary  to  begin  by  con- 
quering England. 

For  a  pair  of  determined  enemies,  Elizabeth  and 
Philip  were  just  now  upon  most  amicable,  not  to 
say  affectionate,  terms.     She  knew  well  that  he  had 

*  Don  John's  naval  victory  at  Lepanto — off  the  western 
coast  of  Greece — on  the  7th  of  October,  1571,  was  a  notable 
achievement.  The  conflict  was  between  the  Turks  on  the 
one  side  and  the  Christians — the  Papal,  Venetian,  and  Span- 
ish galleys,  all  under  Don  John  of  Austria — on  the  other  side. 
As  a  result  of  the  stupendous  engagement,  30,000  Turks  were 
slain  or  captured,  130  Turkish  vessels  were  captured,  and 
12,000  Christian  slaves  were  liberated ;  the  Christian  loss  was 
8,000  men  and  fifteen  galleys. 


144:  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

incited  assassins  to  take  her  life,  and  that  nothing 
would  at  any  time  give  him  greater  pleasure  than 
to  hear  that  one  of  them  had  succeeded.  But  she 
bore  him  no  malice  for  that.  She  took  it  all  in  the 
way  of  business,  and  intended,  for  her  part,  to  go 
on  robbing  and  damaging  him  in  every  way  she  could, 
short  of  going  to  war.  Philip  bore  it  all  meekly. 
Alva  himself  insisted  that  he  could  not  afford  to 
quarrel  with  her.  Diplomatic  relations  by  means 
of  resident  ambassadors,  which  had  been  broken  off 
by  the  expulsion  of  De  Espes  in  1571,  were  resumed ; 
and  English  heretics  in  the  prisons  of  the  Inquisition 
were  released  in  spite  of  the  outcries  of  the  Grand 
Inquisitor. 

In  the  summer  of  1677  it  seemed  as  if  Don  John's 
restless  ambition  would  interrupt  this  pacific  policy 
which  suited  both  monarchs.  He  had  sent  for  the 
Spanish  troops  again.  He  was  known  to  be  project- 
ing an  invasion  of  England.  He  was  said  to  have 
a  promise  of  help  from  Guise.  Elizabeth's  minis- 
ters, as  usual,  believed  that  she  was  on  the  brink  of 
ruin,  and  implored  her  to  send  armies  both  to  the 
Netherlands  and  to  France.  But  she  refused  to  be 
hustled  into  any  precipitate  action,  and  reasons  soon 
appeared  for  maintaining  an  expectant  attitude. 
The  treaty  of  Bergerac  between  Henry  III.  and 
Henry  of  Navarre  ( September  1577 )  showed  once 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  145 

more  that  the  French  King  had  no  intention  of  let- 
ting the  Huguenots  be  crushed.  The  invitation  of 
the  Archduke  Matthias  by  the  Belgian  nobles  showed 
that  they  were  deeply  jealous  of  English  interference. 
Here,  surely,  was  matter  for  reflection.  The  most 
Elizabeth  could  be  got  to  do  was  to  become  security 
for  a  loan  of  £100,000  to  the  States,  on  condition 
that  Matthias  should  leave  the  real  direction  of  affairs 
to  William  of  Orange,  and  to  promise  armed  assist- 
ance (January  1578).  At  the  same  time  she  informed 
Philip  that  she  was  obliged  to  do  this  for  her  own 
safety ;  that  she  had  no  desire  to  contest  his  sover- 
eignty of  the  l^etherlands ;  on  the  contrary,  she  would 
help  him  to  maintain  it  if  he  would  govern  reason- 
ably ;  but  he  ought  to  remove  Don  John,  who  was 
her  mortal  enemy,  and  to  appoint  another  Governor 
of  his  own  family ;  in  other  words,  Matthias.  Her 
policy  could  not  have  been  more  candidly  set  forth, 
and  Philip  showed  his  disapproval  of  Don  John's 
designs  in  a  characteristic  way — by  causing  Esco- 
vedo  to  be  assassinated.  Don  John  himself  died  in 
the  autumn,  of  a  fever  brought  on  by  disappoint- 
ment, or,  as  some  thought,  of  a  complaint  similar 
to  Escovedo's  (September  15Y8). 

When  Elizabeth  feared  that  Don  John's  scheme 
was  countenanced  by  his  brother,  she  had  risked  an 
open  rupture  by  promising  to  send  an  army  to  the 


l.j.6  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

IlsTetherlands.  The  murder  of  Escovedo  and  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Spanish  ambassador  Mendoza  (March 
1578)  reassured  her.  Philip  was  evidently  pacific  to 
the  point  of  tameness.  Instead,  therefore,  of  sending 
an  English  army,  she  preferred  to  pay  John  Casimir, 
the  Count  Palatine,  to  lead  a  German  army  to  the 
assistance  of  the  States.  As  far  as  military  strength 
went,  they  were  probably  no  losers  by  the  change. 
But  what  they  wanted  was  to  see  Elizabeth  com- 
mitted to  open  war  with  Philip,  and  that  was  just 
what  she  desired  to  avoid.  Indirect  and  underhand 
blows  she  was  prepared  to  deal  him,  for  she  knew 
by  experience  that  he  would  put  up  with  them. 
Thus  in  the  preceding  autumn  she  had  despatched 
Drake  on  his  famous  expedition  to  the  South  Pacific. 
Don  John  was  succeeded  by  his  nephew,  Alexander 
of  Parma.  The  fine  prospects  of  the  revolted  pro- 
vinces were  now  about  to  be  dashed.  In  the  arts 
which  smooth  over  difficulties  and  conciliate  opposi- 
tion, Parma  had  few  equals.  He  was  a  head  and 
shoulders  above  all  contemporary  generals ;  and  no 
soldiers  of  that  time  were  comparable  to  his  Spanish 
and  Italian  veterans.  When  he  assumed  the  com- 
mand, he  was  master  of  only  a  small  corner  of  the 
Low  Countries.  What  he  effected  is  represented 
by  their  present  division  between  Belgians  and 
Dutch.    The  struggle  in  the  Netherlands  continued, 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  147 

therefore,  to  be  the  principal  object  of  Elizabeth's 
attention. 

Shortly  before  the  death  of  Don  John,  the  Duke 
of  Alen^on,*  brother  and  heir-presumptive  of  Henry 
III.,  had  been  invited  by  the  Belgian  nobles  to  become 
their  Protector,  and  Orange,  in  his  anxiety  for  union, 
had  accepted  their  nominee.  Alengon  was  to  furnish 
12,000  French  troops.  It  was  hoped  and  believed 
that,  though  Henry  had  ostensibly  disapproved  of 
his  brother's  action,  he  would  in  the  end  give  him 
open  support,  thus  resuming  the  enterprise  which 
had  been  interrupted  six  years  before  by  the  St. 
Bartholomew  Massacre. 

Kow  how  was  Elizabeth  to  deal  with  this  new 
combination  ?  The  Protectorship  of  Alengon  might 
bring  on  annexation  to  France,  the  result  which 
most  of  all  she  wished  to  avoid.  For  a  moment  she 
thought  of  offering  her  own  protection  (which 
Orange  would  have  much  preferred),  and  an  army 
equal  to  that  promised  by  Alengon.  But  upon 
further  reflection,  she  determined  to  adhere  to  the 
policy  of  not  throwing  down  the  glove  to  Philip, 
and  to  try  whether  she  could  not  put  Alengon  in 
harness,  and  make  him  do  her  work.  One  means 
of  effecting  this  would  be  to  allow  him  subsidies — 

*  He  had  received  the  Duchy  of  An  jou  in  addition  to  that 
of  Alengon  and  some  historians  call  him  by  the  former  title. 


148  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  means  employed  on  such  a  vast  scale  by  Pitt  in 
our  wars  with  Napoleon.  But  Elizabeth  intended 
to  spend  as  little  as  possible  in  this  way.  She  relied 
chiefly  on  a  revival  of  the  marriage  comedy — now 
to  be  played  positively  for  the  last  time ;  the  lady 
being  forty -five,  and  her  wooer  twenty -four. 

A  dignified  policy  it  certainly  was  not.  All  that 
was  ridiculous  and  repulsive  in  her  coquetry  with 
Henry  had  now  to  be  repeated  and  outdone  with 
his  younger  brother.  To  overcome  the  incredulity 
which  her  previous  performances  had  produced,  she 
was  obliged  to  exaggerate  her  protestations,  to 
admit  a  personal  courtship,  to  simulate  amorous 
emotion,  and  to  go  through  a  tender  pantomime  of 
kisses  and  caresses.  But  Elizabeth  never  let  dignity 
stand  in  the  way  of  business.  What  to  most  women 
would  have  been  an  insupportable  humiliation  did 
not  cost  her  a  pang.  She  even  found  amusement  in 
it.  From  the  nature  of  the  case,  she  could  not  take 
one  of  her  counsellors  into  her  confidence.  There 
was  no  chance  of  imposing  upon  foreigners  unless 
she  could  persuade  those  about  her  that  she  was  in 
earnest.  They  were  amazed  that  she  should  run 
the  risk  of  establishing  the  French  in  the  Nether- 
lands. She  had  no  intention  of  doing  so.  When 
Philip  should  be  brought  so  low  as  to  be  willing 
to  concede  a  constitutional  government,  she  could 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  I49 

always  throw  her  weight  on  his  side  and  get  rid  of 
the  French. 

The  match  with  Alen§on  had  been  proposed  six 
years  before.  It  had  lately  slumbered.  But  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  whistling  him  back  and  making 
it  appear  that  the  renewed  overture  came  from  his 
side.  After  tedious  negotiations,  protracted  over 
twelve  months,  he  at  length  paid  his  first  visit  to 
Elizabeth  (August  1579).  He  was  an  under-sized 
man  with  an  over-sized  head,  villainously  ugly,  with 
a  face  deeply  seamed  by  smallpox,  a  nose  ending  in 
a  knob  that  made  it  look  like  two  noses,  and  a 
croaking  voice.  Elizabeth's  liking  for  big  hand- 
some men  is  well  known.  But  as  she  had  not  the 
least  intention  of  marrying  AlenQon,  it  cost  her 
nothing  to  affirm  that  she  was  charmed  with  his 
appearance,  and  that  he  was  just  the  sort  of  man 
she  could  fancy  for  a  husband.  The  only  agreeable 
thing  about  him  was  his  conversation,  in  which  he 
shone,  so  that  people  who  did  not  thoroughly  know 
him  always  at  first  gave  him  credit  for  more  ability 
than  he  possessed.  Elizabeth,  who  had  a  pet  name 
for  all  favorites,  dubbed  him  her  "  frog "  ;  and 
"  Grenouille  "  he  was  fain  to  subscribe  himself  in 
his  love-letters.  This  first  visit  was  a  short  one, 
and  he  went  away  hopeful  of  success. 

The  English  people  could  only  judge  by  appear- 


150  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

ances,  and  for  the  first  time  in  her  reign  Elizabeth  was 
unpopular.  The  Puritan  Stubbs  published  his  Dis- 
covery of  a  Gaping  Gulf  wherein  England  is  Wke  to 
he  swallowed  hy  another  French  Marriage.  But  the 
excitement  was  by  no  means  confined  to  the  Puritans. 
Hatred  of  Frenchmen  long  remained  a  ruling  senti- 
ment with  most  Englishmen.  Elizabeth  vented  her 
rage  on  Stubbs,  who  had  been  so  rude  as  to  tell  her 
that  childbirth  at  her  age  would  endanger  her  life. 
He  was  sentenced  to  have  his  hand  cut  off.  "  I  re- 
member," says  Camden,  "  being  then  present,  that 
Stubbs,  after  his  right  hand  was  cut  off,  put  off  his 
hat  with  his  left,  and  said  with  a  loud  voice,  '  God 
save  the  Queen.'  The  multitude  standing  about  was 
deeply  silent." 

Not  long  after  Alen^on's  visit,  a  treaty  of  marriage 
was  signed  (November,  1579),  with  a  proviso  that 
two  months  should  be  allowed  for  the  Queen's  sub- 
jects to  become  reconciled  to  it.  If,  at  the  end  of  that 
time,  Elizabeth  did  not  ratify  the  treaty,  it  was  to 
be  null  and  void.  The  appointed  time  came  and 
went  without  ratification.  Burghley,  as  usual,  pre- 
dicted that  the  jilted  suitor  would  become  a  deadly 
enemy,  and  drew  an  alarming  picture  of  the  dangers 
that  threatened  England,  with  the  old  exhortation  to 
his  mistress  to  form  a  Protestant  league  and  subsi- 
dize the  Scotch  Anglophiles.    But  in  15T2  she  had 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  151 

slipped  out  of  the  Anjou  marriage,  and  yet  secured 
a  French  alliance.  She  confided  in  her  ability  to 
play  the  same  game  now.  Though  she  had  not  rati- 
fied the  marriage  treaty,  she  continued  to  correspond 
with  Alen^on  and  keep  up  his  hopes,  urging  him  at 
the  same  time  to  lead  an  army  to  the  help  of  the 
States.  This,  however,  he  was  unwilling  to  do  till 
he  had  secured  the  marriage.  The  French  King  was 
ready,  and  even  eager,  to  back  his  brother.  But  he, 
too,  insisted  on  the  marriage,  and  that  Elizabeth 
should  openly  join  him  in  war  against  Spain. 

In  the  summer  of  1580,  Philip  conquered  Portugal, 
thus  not  only  rounding  off  his  Peninsular  realm,  but 
acquiring  the  enormous  transmarine  dominions  of  the 
Portuguese  crown.  All  Europe  was  profoundly  im- 
pressed and  alarmed  by  this  apparent  increase  of  his 
power.  Elizabeth  incessantly  lectured  Henry  on  the 
necessity  of  abating  a  preponderance  so  dangerous  to 
all  other  States,  a,nd  tried  to  convince  him  that  it 
was  specially  incumbent  on  France  to  undertake  the 
enterprise.  But  she  preached  in  vain.  Henry  stead- 
ily refused  to  stir  unless  England  would  openly  assist 
him  with  troops  and  money,  of  which  the  marriage 
was  to  be  the  pledge.  He  did  not  conceal  his  suspi- 
cion that,  when  Elizabeth  had  pushed  him  into  war, 
she  would,  "  draw  her  neck  out  of  the  collar  "  and 
leave  him  to  bear  the  whole  danger. 


152  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

This  was,  in  fact,  her  intention.  She  believed  that 
a  war  with  France  would  soon  compel  Philip  to  make 
proper  concessions  to  the  States ;  whereupon  she 
would  interpose  and  dictate  a  peace.  "  Marry  my 
brother,"  Henry  kept  saying,  "  and  then  I  shall  have 
security  that  you  will  bear  your  fair  share  of  the 
fighting  and  expenses."  "If  I  am  to  go  to  war," 
argued  Elizabeth,  "  I  cannot  marry  your  brother ;  for 
my  subjects  will  say  that  I  am  dragged  into  it  by  my 
husband,  and  they  will  grudge  the  expense.  Sup- 
pose, instead  of  a  marriage,  we  have  an  alliance  not 
binding  me  to  open  war ;  then  I  will  furnish  you 
with  money  underhand.  You  know  you  have  got 
to  fight.  You  cannot  afford  to  let  Philip  go  on 
increasing  his  power." 

Henry  remained  doggedly  firm,  l^o  marriage,  no 
war.  At  last,  finding  she  could  not  stir  him,  Eliza- 
beth again  concluded  a  treaty  of  marriage,  but  with 
the  extraordinary  proviso  that  six  weeks  should  be 
left  for  private  explanations  by  letter  between  her- 
self and  Alen9on.  It  soon  appeared  what  this  meant. 
In  these  six  weeks  Elizabeth  furnished  her  suitor 
with  money,  and  incited  him  to  make  a  sudden  at- 
tack on  Parma,  who  was  than  besieging  Cambray, 
close  to  the  French  frontier.  Alen9on,  thinking  him- 
self now  sure  of  the  marriage,  collected  15,000  men ; 
and  Henry,  though  not  openly  assisting  him,  no 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS':  1572-1583.  153 

longer  prohibited  the  enterprise.  But,  as  soon  as 
Elizabeth  thought  they  were  sufficiently  committed, 
she  gave  them  to  understand  that  the  marriage  must 
be  again  deferred,  that  her  subjects  were  discon- 
tented, that  she  could  only  join  in  a  defensive, 
alliance,  but  that  she  would  furnish  money  "  in  rea- 
sonable sort  "  underhand. 

All  this  is  very  unscrupulous,  very  shameless,  even 
for  that  shameless  age.  Hardened  liars  like  Henry 
and  Alen^on  thought  it  too  bad.  They  were  ready 
for  violence  as  well  as  fraud,  and  availed  themselves 
of  whichever  method  came  handiest.  Elizabeth  also 
used  the  weapon  which  nature  had  given  her.  Being 
constitutionally  averse  from  any  but  peaceful 
methods,  she  made  up  for  it  by  a  double  dose  of 
fraud.  Dente  lupus  comu  taurus/^  It  would  have 
been  useless  for.  a  male  statesman  to  try  to  pass  him- 
self off  as  a  fickle  impulsive,  susceptible  being 
swayed  from  one  moment  to  another  in  his  political 
schemes  by  passions  and  weaknesses  that  are  thought 
natural  in  the  other  sex.  This  was  Elizabeth's 
advantage,  and  she  made  the  most  of  it.  She  was  a 
masculine  woman  simulating,  when  it  suited  her 
purpose,  a  feminine  character.  The  men  against 
whom  she  was  matched  were  never  sure  whether 

*  She  possessed  the  tooth  of  the  wolf  and  the  horn  of  th© 
bull, , 


154  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

they  were  dealing  with  a  crafty  and  determined 
politician,  or  a  vain,  flighty,  amorous  woman.  This 
uncertainty  was  constantly  putting  them  out  in  their 
calculations.  Alengon  would  never  have  been  so 
taken  in  if  he  had  not  told  himself  that  any  folly 
might  be  expected  from  an  elderly  woman  enamored 
of  a  young  man. 

On  this  occasion  Elizabeth  scored,  if  not  the  full 
success  she  had  hoped  from  her  audacious  mystifica- 
tion, yet  no  inconsiderable  portion  of  it.  Henry 
managed  to  draw  back  just  in  time,  and  was  not  let 
in  for  a  big  war.  But  Alen^on,  at  the  head  of  15,000 
men,  and  close  to  Cambray,  could  not  for  very 
shame  beat  a  retreat.  Parma  retired  at  his  approach, 
and  the  French  army  entered  Cambray  in  triumph 
(August,  1581).  Alen^on  therefore  had  been  put  in 
harness  to  some  purpose. 

Though  Henry  III.  had  good  reason  to  complain 
of  the  way  he  had  been  treated,  he  did  not  make  it 
a  quarrel  with  Elizabeth.  His  interests,  as  she  saw 
all  along,  were  too  closely  bound  up  with  hers  to 
permit  him  to  think  of  such  a  thing.  On  the  con- 
trary, he  renewed  the  alliance  of  1572  in  an  ampler 
form,  though  it  still  remained  strictly  defensive. 
Alengon,  after  relieving  and  victualling  Cambray,  dis- 
banded his  army,  and  went  over  to  England  again 
to  press  for  the  marriage  (Nov.,  1581).    Thither 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  155 

he  was  followed  by  ambassadors  from  the  States. 
By  the  advice  of  Orange  they  had  resolved  to  take 
him  as  their  sovereign,  and  they  were  now  urgently 
pressing  him  to  return  to  the  Netherlands  to  be  in- 
stalled. Elizabeth  added  her  pressure  ;  but  he  was 
unwilling  to  leave  England  until  he  should  have  se- 
cured the  marriage.  For  three  months  (Nov. ,1581 — 
Feb.,  1582)  did  Elizabeth  try  every  art  to  make 
him  accept  promise  for  performance.  She  was  thor- 
oughly in  her  element.  To  win  her  game  in  this 
way,  not  by  the  brutal  arbitrament  of  war,  or  even 
by  the  ordinary  tricks  of  vicarious  diplomacy,  but  by 
artifices  personally  executed,  feats  of  cajolery  that 
might  seem  improbable  on  the  stage, — this  was  de- 
lightful in  the  highest  degree.  The  more  distrustful 
Alengon  showed  himself,  the  keener  was  the  pleasure 
of  handling  him.  One  day  he  is  hidden  behind  a 
curtain  to  view  her  elegant  dancing  ;  not,  surely,  that 
he  might  be  smitten  with  it,  but  that  he  might  think 
she  desired  him  to  be  smitten.  Another  day  she 
kisses  him  on  the  lips  {en  la  loco)  in  the  presence 
of  the  French  ambassador.  She  gives  him  a  ring. 
She  presents  him  to  her  household  as  their  future 
master.  She  orders  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  to  draw 
up  a  marriage  service.  It  is  a  repulsive  spectacle ; 
but,  after  all,  we  are  not  so  much  disgusted  with  the 
elderly  woman  who  pretends  to  be  willing  to  marry 


156  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  young  man,  as  with  the  young  man  who  is  really 
willing  to  marry  the  elderly  woman.  Unfortunately 
for  Elizabeth,  her  acting  was  so  realistic  that  it  not 
only  took  in  contemporaries,  but  has  persuaded  many 
modern  writers  that  she  was  really  influenced  by 
a  degrading  passion. 

Henry  III.  himself  was  at  last  induced  to  believe 
that  Elizabeth  was  this  time  in  earnest.  But  he  could 
not  be  driven  from  his  determination  to  risk  nothing 
till  he  saw  the  marriage  actually  concluded.  Pinart, 
the  French  Secretary  of  State,  was  accordingly  sent 
over  to  settle  the  terms.  Elizabeth  demanded  one 
concession  after  another,  and  finally  asked  for  the 
restitution  of  Calais.  There  was  no  mistaking  what 
this  meant.  Pinart,  in  the  King's  name,  formally 
forbade  Alen9on  to  proceed  to  the  E'etherlands  except 
as  a  married  man,  and  tried  to  intimidate  Elizabeth 
by  threatening  that  his  master  would  ally  himself 
with  Philip.  But  she  laughed  at  him,  and  told  him 
that  she  could  have  the  Spanish  alliance  whenever 
she  chose,  which  was  perfectly  true.  Alengon  him- 
self gave  way.  He  felt  that  he  was  being  played 
with.  He  had  come  over  here  with  difatuite  [conceif] 
not  uncommon  among  young  Frenchmen,  expecting 
to  bend  a  love-sick  Queen  to  serve  his  political  designs. 
He  found  himself,  to  his  intense  mortification,  bent 
to  serve  hers.    Ashamed  to  show  his  face  in  France 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  157 

without  either  his  Belgian  dominions  or  his  English 
wife,  he  was  fain  to  accept  Elizabeth's  solemn  promise 
that  she  would  marry  him  as  soon  as  she  could, 
and  allowed  himself  to  be  shipped  off  under  the 
escort  of  an  English  fleet  to  the  E'etherlands  (Feb., 
1582). 

According  to  Mr.  Froude,  "  the  Prince  of  Orange 
intimated  that  Alengon  was  accepted  by  the  States 
only  as  a  pledge  that  England  would  support  them  ; 
if  England  failed  them,  they  would  not  trust  their 
fortunes  to  so  vain  an  idiot."  This  statement  appears 
to  be  drawn  from  the  second-hand  tattle  of  Mendoza, 
and  is  probably,  like  much  else  from  that  source,  un- 
worthy of  credit.  But  whether  Orange  sent  such  an 
"  intimation  "  or  not,  it  cannot  be  allowed  to  weigh 
against  the  ample  evidence  that  Alen^on  was  ac- 
cepted by  him  and  by  the  States  mainly  for  the  sake 
of  the  French  forces  he  could  raise  on  his  own  ac- 
count, and  the  assistance  which  he  undertook  to 
procure  from  his  brother.  Neither  Orange  nor  any 
one  else  regarded  him  as  an  idiot.  Orange  had  not 
been  led  to  expect  that  he  would  bring  any  help 
from  England  except  money  supplied  underhand  ; 
and  money  Elizabeth  did  furnish  in  very  considerable 
quantities.  But  the  Netherlanders  now  expected 
everything  to  be  done  for  them,  and  were  backward 
with  their  contributions  both  in  men  and  money. 


158  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

Clearly  there  is  something  to  be  said  for  the  let-alone 
policy  to  which  Elizabeth  usually  leant. 

The  States  intended  Alen^on's  sovereignty  to  be 
of  the  strictly  constitutional  kind,  such  as  it  had 
been  before  the  encroachments  of  Philip  and  his 
father.  This  did  not  suit  the  young  Frenchman, 
and  at  the  beginning  of  1583  he  attempted  a  couj^- 
d^etat^  not  without  encouragement  from  some  of  the 
Belgian  Catholics.  At  Antwerp  his  French  troops 
were  defeated  with  great  bloodshed  by  the  citizens, 
and  the  general  voice  of  the  country  was  for  sending 
him  about  his  business.  But  both  Elizabeth  and 
Orange,  though  disconcerted  and  disgusted  by  his 
treachery,  still  saw  nothing  better  to  be  done  than 
to  patch  up  the  breach  and  retain  his  services. 
Both  of  them  urged  this  course  on  the  States — 
Orange  with  his  usual  dignified  frankness  ;  Eliza- 
beth in  the  crooked,  blustering  fashion  which  has 
brought  upon  her  policy,  in  so  many  instances,  re- 
proach which  it  does  not  really  deserve.  ITorris,* 
the  commander  of  the  English  volunteers,  had  dis- 
countenanced the  coup-d^etat  a,nd  taken  his  orders 
from  the   States.     Openly    Elizabeth  reprimanded 

*  This  commander,  Sir  John  Norris,  is  in  no  wise  to  be  con- 
nected with  the  family  of  Sir  Henry  Norris  mentioned  above 
on  page  2.  The  author  justly  ranks  Sir  John  as  *'the  fore- 
most soldier  among  Englishmen  of  that  day." 

See  p.  257. 


FOREIGN  AFFAIRS  :  1572-1583.  159 

him,  and  ordered  him  to  bring  his  men  back  to 
England.  Secretly  she  told  him  he  had  done  well, 
and  bade  him  remain  where  he  was.  JN'orris  was 
in  fact  there  to  protect  the  interests  of  England 
quite  as  much  against  the  French  as  against  Spain. 
There  is  not  the  least  ground  for  the  assertion 
that  in  promoting  a  reconciliation  with  Alengon, 
Orange  acted  under  pressure  from  Elizabeth. 
Everything  goes  to  show  that  he,  the  wisest  and 
noblest  statesman  of  his  time,  thought  it  the  only 
course  open  to  the  States,  unless  they  were  prepared 
to  submit  to  Philip.  Both  Elizabeth  and  Orange 
felt  that  the  first  necessity  was  to  keep  the  quarrel 
alive  between  the  Frenchman  and  the  Spaniard. 
The  English  Queen  therefore  continued  to  feed 
Alen^on  with  hopes  of  marriage,  and  the  States 
patched  up  a  reconciliation  with  him  (March,  1583). 
But  his  heart  failed  him.  He  saw  Parma  taking 
town  after  town.  He  knew  that  he  had  made  him- 
self odious  to  the  ITetherlanders.  He  was  covered 
with  shame.  He  was  fatally  stricken  with  consump- 
tion. In  June,  1583,  he  left  Belgium  never  to  return. 
Within  a  twelvemonth  he  was  dead. 


100  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTEK  YII. 

THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1670-1683. 

Sovereigns  and  statesmen  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury are  to  be  honored  or  condemned  according  to 
the  degree  in  which  they  aimed  on  the  one  hand  at 
preserving  political  order,  and  on  the  other,  at 
allowing  freedom  of  opinion.  It  was  not  always 
easy  to  reconcile  these  two  aims.  The  first  was  a 
temporary  necessity,  and  yet  was  the  more  urgent — 
as  indeed  is  always  the  case  with  the  tasks  of  the 
statesman.  He  is  responsible  for  the  present  ;  it  is 
not  for  him  to  attempt  to  provide  for  a  remote 
future.  Political  order  and  the  material  well-being 
of  nations  may  be  disastrously  impaired  by  the  im- 
prudence or  weakness  of  a  ruler.  Thought,  after  all 
may  be  trusted  to  take  care  of  itself  in  the  long- 
run. 

To  the  modern  Liberal  with  his  doctrine  of  abso- 
lute religious  equality,  toleration  seems  an  insult,  and 
anything  short  of  toleration  is  regarded  as  persecu- 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  161 

tion.  In  the  sixteenth  century  the  most  advanced 
statesmen  did  not  see  their  way  to  proclaim  free- 
dom of  public  worship  and  of  religious  discussion. 
It  was  much  if  they  tolerated  freedom  of  opinion, 
and  connived  at  a  quiet,  private  propagation  of 
other  religions  than  those  established  by  law.  It 
would  be  wrong  to  condemn  and  despise  them  as 
actuated  by  superstition  and  narrow  minded  preju- 
dice. Their  motives  were  mainly  political,  and  it  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  knew  better  than 
we  do  whether  a  larger  toleration  was  compatible 
with  public  order. 

We  have  seen  that  under  the  Act  of  Supremacy, 
in  the  first  year  of  Elizabeth,  the  oath  was  only 
tendered  to  persons  holding  office,  spiritual  or  tem- 
poral, under  the  crown,  and  that  the  penalty  for  re- 
fusing it  was  only  deprivation.  But  in  her  fifth  year 
(1563),  it  was  enacted  that  the  oath  might  be  tendered 
to  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  schoolmasters, 
and  attorneys,  who,  if  they  refused  it,  might  be 
punished  by  forfeiture  of  property  and  perpetual  im- 
prisonment. To  those  who  had  held  any  ecclesiasti- 
cal office,  or  who  should  openly  disapprove  of  the 
established  worship,  or  celebrate  or  hear  mass,  the 
oath  might  be  tendered  a  second  time,  with  the  pen- 
alties of  high  treason  for  refusal. 

That  this  law  authorized  an  atrocious  persecution 


162  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

cannot  be  disputed,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  many 
zealous  Protestants  wished  it  to  be  enforced.  But 
the  practical  question  is,  Was  it  enforced  ?  The 
government  wished  to  be  armed  with  the  power  of 
using  it,  and  for  the  purpose  of  expelling  Catholics 
from  offices  it  was  extensively  used.  But  no  one 
was  at  this  time  visited  with  the  severer  penalties, 
the  bishops  having  been  privately  forbidden  to  tender 
the  oath  a  second  time  to  any  one  without  special 
instructions. 

The  Act  of  Uniformity,  passed  in  the  first  year  of 
Elizabeth,  prohibited  the  use  of  any  but  the  estab- 
lished liturgy,  whether  in  public  or  private,  under 
pain  of  perpetual  imprisonment  for  the  third  offence, 
and  imposed  a  fine  of  one  shilling  on  recusants — that 
is,  upon  persons  who  absented  themselves  from  church 
on  Sundays  and  holidays.  To  what  extent  Catholics 
were  interfered  with  under  this  Act  has  been  a  mat- 
ter of  much  dispute.  Most  of  them,  during  the  first 
eleven  years  of  Elizabeth,  either  from  ignorance  or 
worldliness,  treated  the  Anglican  service  as  equiva- 
lent to  the  Catholic,  and  made  no  difficulty  about 
attending  church,  even  after  this  compliance  with  the 
law  had  been  forbidden  by  Pius  lY.  in  the  sixth  year 
of  Elizabeth.  Only  the  more  scrupulous  absented 
themselves,  and  called  in  the  ministrations  of  the  "old 
priests,"  who  with  more  or  less  secrecy  said  mass  in 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  163 

private  houses.  Some  of  these  offenders  were  certain 
Ij  punished  before  Elizabeth  had  been  two  years  on 
the  throne.  The  enforcement  of  laws  was  by  no  means 
so  uniform  in  those  days  as  it  is  now.  Much  depended 
on  the  leanings  of  the  noblemen  and  justices  of  the 
peace  in  different  localities.  Both  from  disposition 
and  policy  Elizabeth  desired,  as  a  general  rule,  to 
connive  at  Catholic  nonconformity  when  it  did  not 
take  an  aggressive  and  fanatical  form.  But  she  had 
no  scruple  about  applying  the  penalties  of  these  Acts 
to  individuals  who  for  any  reason,  religious  or  polit- 
ical, were  specially  obnoxious  to  her. 

So  things  went  on  till  the  northern  insurrection : 
the  laws  authorizing  a  searching  and  sanguinary  per- 
secution ;  the  Government,  much  to  the  disgust  of 
zealous  Protestants,  declining  to  put  those  laws  in 
execution.  Judged  by  modern  ideas,  the  position  of 
the  Catholics  was  intolerable ;  but  if  measured  by  the 
principles  of  government  then  universally  accepted, 
or  if  compared  with  the  treatment  of  persons  ever  so 
slightly  suspected  of  heresy  in  countries  cursed  with 
the  Inquisition,  it  was  not  a  position  of  which  they 
had  any  great  reason  to  complain  ;  nor  did  the  large 
majority  of  them  complain. 

Pope  Pius  lY.  (1559-1566)  was  comparatively  cau- 
tious and  circumspect  in  his  attitude  towards  Eliza- 
beth.   But  his  successor  Pius  Y.  (1566-1572),  hav- 


164  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

ing  made  up  his  mind  that  her  destruction  was  the 
one  thing  necessary  for  the  defeat  of  heresy  in  Eu- 
rope, strove  to  stir  up  against  her  rebellion  at  home 
and  invasion  from  abroad.  A  bull  deposing  her,  and 
absolving  her  subjects  from  their  allegiance,  was 
drawn  up.  But  while  Pius,  conscious  of  the  offence 
which  it  would  give  to  all  the  sovereigns  of  Europe, 
delayed  to  issue  it,  the  northern  rebellion  flared  up 
and  was  trampled  out.  The  absence  of  such  a  bull 
was  by  many  Catholics  made  an  excuse  for  holding 
aloof  from  the  rebel  earls.  When  it  was  too  late  the 
bull  was  issued  (Feb.,  15Y0).  Philip  and  Charles 
IX. — sovereigns  first  and  Catholics  afterwards — 
refused  to  let  it  be  published  in  their  dominions. 

After  the  northern  insurrection  the  Queen  issued 
a  remarkable  appeal  to  her  people,  which  was  or- 
dered to  be  placarded  in  every  parish,  and  read  in 
every  church.  She  could  point  with  honest  pride 
to  eleven  years  of  such  peace  abroad  and  tranquil- 
lity at  home  as  no  living  Englishman  could  re- 
member. Her  economy  had  enabled  her  to  conduct 
the  government  without  any  of  the  illegal  exactions 
to  which  former  sovereigns  had  resorted.  "She 
had  never  sought  the  life,  the  blood,  the  goods,  the 
houses,  estates  or  lands  of  any  person  in  her  domin- 
ions." This  happy  state  of  things  the  rebels  had  tried 
to  disturb  on  pretext  of  religion.     They  had  no  real 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  165 

grievance  on  that  score.  Attendance  at  parish 
church  was  indeed  obligatory  by  law,  though,  she 
might  have  added,  it  was  very  loosely  enforced. 
But  she  disclaimed  any  wish  to  pry  into  opinions,  or 
to  inquire  in  what  sense  any  one  understood  rites  or 
ceremonies.  In  other  words,  the  language  of  the 
communion  service  was  not  incompatible  with  the 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  loyal  Catholics 
were  at  liberty,  were  almost  invited,  to  interpret  it 
in  that  sense  if  they  liked. 

This  compromise  between  their  religious  and  polit- 
ical obligations  had  in  fact  been  hitherto  adopted 
by  the  large  majority  of  English  Catholics.  But 
a  time  was  come  when  it  was  to  be  no  longer 
possible  for  them.  They  were  summoned  to  make 
their  choice  between  their  duty  as  citizens  and  their 
duty  as  Catholics.  The  summons  had  come,  not 
from  the  Queen,  but  from  the  Pope,  and  it  is  not 
strange  that  they  had  thenceforth  a  harder  time  of 
it.  Many  of  them,  indignant  with  the  Pope  for 
bringing  trouble  upon  them,  gave  up  the  struggle 
and  conformed  to  the  Established  Church.  The 
temper  of  the  rest  became  more  bitter  and  danger 
ous.  The  Puritan  Parliament  of  1571  passed  a  bill 
to  compel  all  persons  not  only  to  attend  church,  but 
to  receive  the  communion  twice  a  year  ;  and  another 
making  formal  reconciliation  to  the  Church  of  Rome 


166  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

high  treason  both  for  the  convert  and  the  priest  who 
should  receive  him.  Here  we  have  the  persecu- 
ting spirit,  which  was  as  inherent  in  the  zealous  Prot- 
estant as  in  the  zealous  Catholic.  Attempts  to 
excuse  such  legislation,  as  prompted  by  political 
reasons,  can  only  move  the  disgust  of  every  honest- 
minded  man.  The  first  of  these  bills  did  not  re- 
ceive the  royal  assent,  though  Cecil — just  made  Lord 
Burghley — had  strenuously  pushed  it  through  the 
Upper  House.  Elizabeth  probably  saw  that  its  only 
effect  would  be  to  enable  the  Protestant  zealots  in 
every  parish  to  enjoy  the  luxury  of  harassing  their 
quiet  Catholic  neighbors,  who  attended  church  but 
would  scruple  to  take  the  sacrament. 

The  Protestant  spirit  of  this  House  of  Commons 
showed  itself  not  only  in  laws  for  strengthening  the 
Government  and  persecuting  the  Catholics,  but  in 
attempts  to  puritanize  the  Prayer-book,  which  much 
displeased  the  Queen.  Strickland,  one  of  the  Puritan 
leaders,  was  forbidden  to  attend  the  House.  But  such 
was  the  irritation  caused  by  this  invasion  of  its  privi- 
leges, that  the  prohibition  was  removed  after  one  day. 
It  was  in  this  session  of  Parliament  that  the  doctrines 
of  the  Church  of  England  were  finally  determined  by 
the  imposition  on  the  clergy  of  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles,  which,  as  every  one  knows,  are  much  more 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  167 

Protestant  than  the  Prayer-book.  Till  then  they 
had  only  had  the  sanction  of  Convocation. 

During  the  first  forty  years  or  so,  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Eeformation,  Protestantism  spread  in 
most  parts  of  Europe  with  great  rapidity.  It  was 
not  merely  an  intellectual  revolt  against  doctrines 
no  longer  credible.  The  numbers  of  the  reformers 
were  swelled,  and  their  force  intensified  by  the  flock- 
ing in  of  pious  souls,  athirst  for  personal  holiness, 
and  of  many  others  who,  without  being  high- wrought 
enthusiasts,  were  by  nature  disposed  to  value  what- 
ever seemed  to  make  for  a  purer  morality.  The 
religion  which  had  nurtured  Bernard  and  A  Kempis 
was  deserted,  not  merely  as  being  untrue,  but  as 
incompatible  with  the  highest  spiritual  life — nay,  as 
positively  corrupting  to  society.  This  imagination, 
of  course,  had  but  a  short  day.  The  return  to  the 
Bible  and  the  doctrines  of  primitive  Christianity,  the 
deliverance  from  "the  Bishop  of  Eome  and  his 
detestable  enormities,"  were  not  found  to  be  followed 
by  any  general  improvement  of  morals  in  Protestant 
countries.  He  that  was  unjust  was  unjust  still ;  he 
that  was  filthy  was  filthy  still.  The  repulsive 
contrast  too  often  seen  between  sanctimonious  profes- 
sions and  unscrupulous  conduct  contributed  to  the 
disenchantment. 

In  the  meanwhile  a  great  regeneration  was  going 


168  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

on  within  the  Catholic  Church  itself.  Signs  of  this 
can  be  detected  quite  as  early  as  the  first  rise  of 
Protestantism.  It  is,  therefore,  not  to  be  attributed 
to  Protestant  teaching  and  example,  though  doubt- 
less the  rivalry  of  the  younger  religion  stimulated 
the  best  energies  of  the  older.  No  long  time  elapsed 
before  this  regeneration  had  worked  its  way  to  the 
highest  places  in  the  Church.  The  Popes  by  whom 
Elizabeth  was  confronted  were  all  men  of  pure  lives 
and  single-hearted  devotion  to  the  Catholic  cause. 

The  last  two  years  of  the  Council  of  Trent  (1562-3) 
were  the  starting-point  of  the  modern  Catholic 
Church.  Many  proposals  had  been  made  for  com- 
promise with  Protestantism.  But  the  Fathers  of 
Trent  saw  that  the  only  chance  of  survival  for  a 
Church  claiming  to  be  Catholic  was  to  remain  on 
the  old  lines.  By  the  canons  and  decrees  of  the 
Council,  ratified  by  Pius  lY.,  the  old  doctrines  and 
disciplines  were  confirmed  and  definitely  formulated. 
One  branch  indeed  of  the  Papal  power  was  irretriev- 
ably gone.  Eoyal  authority  had  become  absolute, 
and  the  kings,  including  Philip  II.,  refused  to  tolerate 
any  interference  with  it.  The  Papacy  had  to  ac- 
quiesce in  the  loss  its  of  power  over  sovereigns.  But 
as  regards  the  bishops  and  clergy,  and  things  strictly 
appertaining  to  religion,  its  spiritual  autocracy, 
which  the  great  councils  of  the  last  century  had 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  169 

aimed  at  breaking,  was  re-established,  and  has  con- 
tinued. The  new  situation,  though  it  seemed  to  place 
the  Popes  on  a  humbler  footing  than  in  the  days  of 
Gregory  YII.,  or  Innocent  III.,  was  a  healthy  one. 
It  confined  them  to  their  spiritual  domain,  and  drove 
them  to  make  the  best  of  it. 

Until  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Trent,  the  split 
between  Protestants  and  Catholics  was  not  definitely 
and  irrevocably  decided.  Many  on  both  sides  had 
shrunk  from  admitting  it.  The  Catholic  world  might 
seem  to  be  narrowed  by  the  defection  of  the  Protes- 
tant States.  But  all  the  more  clearly  did  it  appear 
that  a  Church  claiming  to  be  universal  is  not  con- 
cerned with  political  boundaries.  The  resistance  to 
the  spread  of  heresy  had  hitherto  consisted  of  many 
local  struggles,  in  which  the  repressive  measures  had 
emanated  from  the  orthodox  sovereigns,  and  had 
therefore  been  fitful  and  unconnected.  But  not  long 
after  the  Tridentine  reorganization,  the  Pope  ap- 
pears again  as  commander-in-chief  of  the  Catholic 
forces,  surveying  and  directing  combined  operations 
from  one  end  of  Europe  to  the  other.  Pius  lY.  had 
been  with  difficulty  prevented  by  Philip  from  ex- 
communicating Elizabeth.  Pius  Y.  had  launched  his 
bull,  as  we  have  seen,  a  few  months  too  late  (1570)  ; 
and  even  then  it  was  not  allowed  to  be  published  in 
either  Spain  or  France.    The  life  of  that  Pope  was 


170  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

wasted  in  earnest  remonstrances  with  the  Catholic 
sovereigns  for  not  executing  the  sentence  of  the 
Church  against  the  heretic  Queen.  Gregory  XIII., 
who  succeeded  him  just  before  the  St.  Bartholo- 
mew Massacre,  took  the  attack  into  his  own  hands. 
He  was  a  warm  patron  of  the  Jesuits,  who  were 
especially  devoted  to  the  centralizing  system  re- 
established at  Trent.  He  and  they  had  made  up 
their  minds  that  England  was  the  key  of  the  Protes- 
tant position ;  that  until  Elizabeth  was  removed  no 
advance  was  to  be  hoped  for  anywhere. 

The  decline  of  a  religion  may  be  accompanied  by 
a  positive  increase  of  earnestness  and  activity  on 
the  part  of  its  remaining  votaries,  deluding  them  into 
a  belief  that  they  are  but  passing  through,  or  have 
successfully  passed  through,  a  period  of  temporary 
depression  and  eclipse.  Among  the  Catholics  of  the 
latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  there  was  all  the 
enthusiasm  of  a  religious  revival.  In  no  place  did 
this  show  itself  more  than  at  Oxford.  There  the 
weak  points  of  popular  movements  have  never  been 
allowed  to  pass  without  challenge,  and  what  is  really 
valuable  or  beautiful  in  time-worn  faiths  has  been 
sure  of  receiving  fair-play  and  something  more.  The 
gloss  of  the  Eef ofmation  was  already  worn  off.  The 
worldly  and  carnal  were  its  supporters  and  direc- 
tors.   It  no  longer  demanded  enthusiasm  and  sacri- 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  ITl 

fice.  It  walked  in  purple  and  fine  linen.  Young 
men  of  quick  intellect  and  high  aspirations  who,  a 
generation  earlier,  would  have  been  captivated  by 
its  fair  promise  and  have  thrown  themselves  into  its 
current,  yielded  now  to  the  eternal  spell  of  the  older 
Church,  cleansed  as  she  was  of  her  pollutions,  and 
purged  of  her  dross  by  the  discipline  of  adversity. 

The  leader  of  these  Oxford  enthusiasts  was  a  young 
fellow  of  Oriel,  William  Allen.  In  the  third  year 
of  Elizabeth,  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight,  he  resigned 
the  Principalship  of  St.  Mary  Hall.  The  next  eight 
years  were  spent  partly  abroad,  partly  in  secret 
missionary  work  in  England,  carried  on  at  the  peril 
of  his  life.  The  old  priests,  who  with  more  or  less 
concealment  and  danger  continued  to  exercise  their 
office  among  the  English  Catholics,  were  gradually 
dying  off.  In  order  to  train  successors  to  them, 
Allen  founded  an  English  seminary  at  Douai  (1568). 
To  this  important  step  it  was  mainly  due  that  the 
Catholic  religion  did  not  become  extinct  in  this 
country.  In  the  first  five  years  of  its  existence  the 
college  at  Douai  sent  nearly  a  hundred  priests  to 
England. 

It  was  the  aim  of  Allen  to  put  an  end  to  the 
practical  toleration  allowed  to  Catholic  laymen  of 
the  quieter  sort.  The  Catholic  who  began  by  put- 
ting in  the  compulsory  number  of  attendances  at 


172  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

his  parish  church  was  likely  to  end  by  giving  up 
his  faith  altogether.  If  he  did  not,  his  son  would. 
Allen  deliberately  preferred  a  sweeping  persecution 
— one  that  would  make  the  position  of  Catholics  in- 
tolerable, and  ripen  them  for  rebellion.  He  wanted 
martyrs.  The  ardent  young  men  whom  he  trained 
at  Douai  and  (after  1578)  at  Rheims,  Avent  back  to 
their  native  land  with  the  clear  understanding  that  of 
all  the  services  they  could  render  to  the  Church  the 
greatest  would  be  to  die  under  the  hangman's  knife. 

Gregory  XIII.  hoped  great  things  from  Allen's 
seminary,  and  furnished  funds  for  its  support.  In 
1579  Allen  went  to  Rome,  and  enlisted  the  support 
of  Mercurian,  General  of  the  Jesuits.  Two  English 
Jesuits,  Robert  Parsons  and  Edward  Campion,  ex- 
fellows  of  Balliol  and  St.  John's,  were  selected  as 
missionaries.  Campion  was  eight  years  younger 
than  Allen.  He  had  had  a  brilliant  career  at  Ox- 
ford, being  especially  distinguished  for  his  eloquence. 
He  was  at  that  time  personally  known  to  both  Cecil 
and  the  Queen,  and  enjoyed  their  favor.  He  took 
deacon's  orders  in  1568,  but  not  long  afterwards 
joined  Allen  at  Douai,  and  formally  abjured  the 
Anglican  Church.  He  had  been  six  years  a  Jesuit 
when  he  was  despatched  on  his  dangerous  mission 
to  England. 

Tired  of  waiting  for    the    initiative    of  Philip, 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  173 

Gregory  XIII.  and  the  Jesuits  had  planned  a  three- 
fold attack  on  Elizabeth  in  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland.  In  England  a  revivalist  movement 
was  to  be  carried  on  among  the  Catholics  by  the 
missionaries.  Catholic  writers  have  been  at  great 
pains  to  argue  that  this  was  a  purely  religious 
movement,  prosecuted  with  the  single  object  of 
saving  souls.  The  Jesuits  have  always  known  their 
men  and  employed  them  with  discrimination. 
Saving  of  souls  was  very  likely  the  simple  object  of 
a  man  of  Campion's  saintly  and  exalted  nature.  He 
himself  declared  that  he  had  been  strictly  forbidden 
to  meddle  with  worldly  concerns  or  affairs  of  State, 
and  nothing  inconsistent  with  this  declaration  was 
proved  against  him  at  his  trial.  But  without  laying 
any  stress  on  statements  extracted  from  prisoners 
under  torture,  we  cannot  doubt  that  his  employers 
aimed  at  re-establishing  Catholicism  in  England  by 
rebellion  and  foreign  invasion.  This  was  thoroughly 
understood  by  every  missionary  who  crossed  the 
sea ;  and  if  Campion  never  alluded  to  it  even  in  his 
most  familiar  conversations  he  must  have  had  an 
extraordinary  control  over  his  tongue. 

The  evidence  that  the  assassination  of  the  Queen 
was  a  recognized  part  of  the  Jesuit  plan,  determined 
by  the  master  spirits  and  accepted  by  all  the  subordin- 
ate agents,  is  perhaps  not  quite  conclusive.  If  proved, 


174  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

it  would  only  show  that  they  were  not  more  scrupu- 
lous than  most  statesmen  and  politicians  of  the  time. 
Lax  as  sixteenth  century  notions  were  about  political 
murder,  there  were  always  some  consciences  more 
tender  than  others.  It  is  likely  enough  that  Cam- 
pion personally  disapproved  of  such  projects,  and  that 
they  were  not  thrust  upon  his  attention.  But  he  can 
hardly  have  avoided  being  aware  that  they  were  con- 
templated by  the  less  squeamish  of  his  brethren. 

Campion  and  Parsons  came  to  England  in  disguise 
in  the  summer  of  1580.  Their  mission  was  not  a  suc- 
cess. It  only  served  to  show  how  much  more  securely 
Elizabeth  was  seated  on  her  throne  than  in  the  earlier 
years  of  her  reign.  In  his  letters  to  Eome,  Campion 
boasts  of  the  welcome  he  met  with  every  where,  the 
crowds  that  attended  his  preaching,  the  ardor  of  the 
Catholics,  and  the  disrepute  into  which  Protestantism 
was  falling.  He  had  evidently  worked  himself  up 
to  such  a  state  of  ecstasy  that  he  was  living  in  a 
world  of  his  own  imagination,  and  was  no  competent 
witness  of  facts.  He  crept  about  England  in  various 
disguises,  and  when  he  was  in  districts  where  the 
nobles  and  gentry  favored  the  old  religion,  he 
preached  with  a  publicity  which  seems  extraordi- 
nary to  us  in  these  days  when  the  laws  are  executed 
with  prompt  uniformity  by  means  of  railways,  tele- 
graphs and  a  welLorganized  police,    In  the  sixteenth 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  175 

century  England  had  nothing  that  can  be  called  an 
organized  machinery  for  the  prevention  and  detection 
of  crime.  If  an  outbreak  occurred  the  Government 
collected  militia,  and  trampled  it  out  with  an  energy 
that  took  no  account  of  law  and  feared  no  conse- 
quences. But  in  ordinar}'  times  it  had  to  depend  on 
the  local  justices  of  the  peace  and  parish  constables, 
and  if  they  were  remiss  the  laws  were  a  dead  letter. 
There  were  no  newspapers.  The  high-roads  were 
few  and  bad.  One  parish  did  not  know  what  was 
going  on  in  the  next.  Campion  could  be  passed  on 
from  one  gentleman's  house  to  another  on  horses 
quite  as  good  as  any  officer  of  the  Government  rode, 
and  could  travel  all  over  England  without  ever  using 
a  high-road  or  showing  his  face  in  a  town.  If  he 
preached  to  a  hundred  people  in  some  Lancashire 
village,  Lord  Derby  did  not  want  to  know  it,  and 
before  the  news  reached  Burghley  or  Walsingham 
he  would  be  in  another  county,  or  perhaps  back  in 
London — then,  as  now,  the  safest  of  all  hiding-places. 
Thus,  though  a  warrant  was  issued  for  his  arrest  as 
soon  as  he  arrived  in  England,  it  was  not  till  July  in 
the  next  year  (1581)  that  he  was  taken,  after  an 
unusually  public  and  protracted  appearance  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Oxford. 

He  had  little  or  nothing  to  show  for  his  twelve 
months'  tour,  and  this  although  the  Government 


176  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

had,  as  Allen  hoped,  allowed  itself  to  be  provoked 
into  an  increase  of  severity  which  seems  to  have 
been  quite  unnecessary.  The  large  majority  of 
Catholic  laymen  would  evidently  have  preferred  that 
both  Seminarists  and  Jesuits  should  keep  away. 
They  did  not  want  civil  war.  They  did  not  want 
to  be  persecuted.  They  were  against  a  foreign  in- 
vasion, without  which  they  knew  very  well  that 
Elizabeth  could  not  be  deposed.  They  were  even 
loyal  to  her.  They  were  content  to  wait  till  she 
should  disappear  in  the  course  of  nature  and  make 
room  for  the  Queen  of  Scots.  Mendoza  writes  to 
Philip  that  "  they  place  themselves  in  the  hands  of 
God,  and  are  willing  to  sacrifice  life  and  all  in  the 
service,  hut  scarcely  with  that  burning  zeal  which 
they  ought  to  show. " 

By  the  bull  of  Pius  Y.,  Englishmen  were  for- 
bidden to  acknowledge  Elizabeth  as  their  Queen  ;  in 
other  words,  they  were  ordered  to  expose  themselves 
to  the  penalties  of  treason.  If  the  Pope  would  be 
satisfied  with  nothing  less  than  this,  it  was  quite 
certain  that  he  would  alienate  most  of  his  followers 
in  England.  Gregory  XIII.  therefore  had  authorized 
the  Jesuits  to  explain  that  although  the  Protes- 
tants, by  willingly  acknowledging  the  Queen,  were 
incurring  the  damnation  pronounced  by  the  bull, 
Catholics  would  be  excused  for  unwillingly  acknowl- 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  177 

edging  her  until  some  opportunity  arrived  for  de- 
throning her.  Protestant  writers  have  exclaimed 
against  this  distinction  as  treacherous.  It  was 
perfectly  reasonable.  It  represents,  for  instance, 
the  attitude  of  every  Alsatian  who  accords  an  un- 
willing recognition  to  the  German  Emperor.  But 
the  English  Government  intolerantly  and  unwisely 
made  it  the  occasion  for  harassing  the  consciences 
of  men  who  were  most  of  them  guiltless  of  any 
intention  to  rebel. 

Among  other  persecuting  laws  passed  early  in 
1581,  was  one  which  raised  the  fine  for  non-attend- 
ance at  church  to  twenty  pounds  a  month.  Such 
a  measure  was  calculated  to  excite  much  more  wide- 
spread disaffection  than  the  hanging  of  a  few  priests. 
It  was  not  intended  to  be  a  hrutum  fulmen*  The 
names  of  all  recusants  in  each  parish  were  returned 
to  the  Council.  They  amounted  to  about  50,000, 
and  the  fines  exacted  became  a  not  inconsiderable 
item  in  the  royal  revenue.  That  number  certainly 
formed  but  a  small  portion  of  the  Catholic  population. 
But  if  all  the  rest  had  been  in  the  habit  of  going  to 
church,  contrary  to  the  Pope's  express  injunction, 
rather  than  pay  a  small  fine,  the  Government  ought 
to  have  seen  that  they  were  not  the  stuff  of  which 
rebels  are  made. 

*  Harmless  thunder-clap,  i.  e.  big  words. 


178  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

Campion,  after  being  compelled  by  torture  to  dis- 
close the  name  of  his  hosts  in  different  counties,  was 
called  on  to  maintain  the  Catholic  doctrines  in  three 
days'  discussion  before  a  large  audience  against  four 
Protestant  divines,  who  do  not  seem  to  have  been 
ashamed  of  themselves.  He  was  offered  pardon  if 
he  would  attend  once  in  church.  As  he  steadfastly 
refused,  he  was  racked  again  till  his  limbs  were  dis- 
located. When  he  had  partially  recovered  he  was 
put  on  his  trial,  along  with  several  of  his  companions, 
not  under  any  of  the  recent  anti-catholic  laws  but 
under  the  ordinary  statute  of  Edward  III.,  for  "  com- 
passing and  imagining  the  Queen's  death  " — such  a 
horror  had  the  Burghleys  and  Walsinghams  of  any- 
thing like  religious  persecution  !  Being  unable  to 
hold  up  his  hand  to  plead  ]^ot  Guilty,  "  two  of  his 
companions  raised  it  for  him,  first  kissing  the  broken 
joints."  According  to  Mendoza  ( whom  on  other 
occasions  we  are  invited  to  accept  as  a  witness  of 
truth),  his  nails  had  been  torn  from  his  fingers. 
Apart  from  his  religious  belief  nothing  treasonable 
was  proved  against  him  in  deed  or  word.  He 
acknowledged  Elizabeth  for  his  rightful  sovereign,  as 
the  new  interpretation  of  the  papal  bull  permitted 
him  to  do,  but  he  declined  to  give  any  opinion  about 
the  Pope's  right  to  depose  princes.  This  was 
enough  for  the  judge  and  jury,  and  he  was  found 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  179 

guilty.  At  the  place  of  execution  he  was  again  offered 
his  pardon  if  he  would  deny  the  papal  right  of  de- 
position, or  even  hear  a  Protestant  sermon.  He 
wished  the  Queen  a  long,  and  quiet  reign  and  all 
prosperity,  but  more  he  would  not  say.  At  the 
quartering  "  a  drop  of  blood  spirted  on  the  clothes 
of  a  youth  named  Henry  Walpole,  to  whom  it  came 
as  a  divine  command.  Walpole,  converted  on  the 
spot,  became  a  Jesuit,  and  soon  after  met  the  same 
fate  on  the  same  spot." 

Mr.  Fronde's  comment  is  that  "  if  it  be  lawful  in 
defence  of  national  independence  to  kill  open  enemies 
in  war,  it  is  more  lawful  to  execute  the  secret  con- 
spirator who  is  teaching  doctrines  in  the  name  of 
God  which  are  certain  to  be  fatal  to  it."  It  would 
perhaps  be  enough  to  remark  that  this  reasoning 
amply  justifies  some  of  the  worst  atrocities  of  the 
French  Revolution.  Hallam  and  Macaulay  have 
condemned  it  by  anticipation  in  language  which 
will  commend  itself  to  all  who  are  not  swayed  by 
religious,  or,  what  is  more  offensive,  anti-religious 
bigotry.* 

Cruel  as  the  English  criminal  law  was,  and  long 
remained,  it  never  authorized  the  use  of  torture  to 
extract  confession.     The  rack  in  the  Tower  is  said 

*  Hallam,  Constitutional  History,  Chapter  HI.  Macaulay, 
Essay  cwi  Hallam'' s  Consitutional  History, 


180  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

to  have  made  its  appearance,  with  other  innovations 
of  absolute  government,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  TV. 
But  it  seems  to  have  been  little  used  before  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  under  whom  it  became  the  ordinary 
preliminary  to  a  political  trial.  For  this  the  chief 
blame  must  rest  personally  on  Burghley.  Opinions 
may  differ  as  to  his  rank  as  a  statesman,  but  no  one 
will  contest  his  eminent  talents  as  a  minister  of  police. 
In  the  former  capacity  he  had  sufficient  sense  of 
shame  to  publish  a  Pecksnifflan  apology  for  his  em- 
ployment of  the  rack.  "  J^one,"  he  says,  "  of  those 
who  were  at  any  time  put  to  the  rack  were  asked, 
during  their  torture,  any  question  as  to  points  of 
doctrine,  but  merely  concerning  their  plots  and  con- 
spiracies, and  the  persons  with  whom  they  had  deal- 
ings, and  what  was  their  own  opinion  as  to  the  Pope's 
right  to  deprive  the  Queen  of  her  crown."  "What 
was  this  but  a  point  of  doctrine  ?  The  wretched 
victim  who  conscientiously  believed  it  (as  all  Chris- 
tendom once  did),  but  wished  to  save  himself  by 
silence,  was  driven  either  to  tell  a  lie  or  to  consign 
himself  to  rope  and  knife.  "  The  Queen's  servants, 
the  warders,  whose  office  and  act  it  is  to  handle  the 
rack,  were  ever,  by  those  that  attended  the  examina- 
tions, specially  charged  to  use  it  in  so  charitable  a 
manner  as  such  a  thing  might  be."  It  may  be  hoped 
that  there  are  not  many  who  would  dissent  from 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  181 

Hallam's  remark  that  "  such  miserable  excuses  serve 
only  to  mingle  contempt  with  our  detestation."  He 
adds:  "It  is  due  to  Elizabeth  to  observe  that  she 
ordered  the  torture  to  be  disused."  I  do  not  know 
what  authority  there  is  for  this  statement.  Three 
years  later  the  Protestant  Archbishop  of  Dublin  was 
puzzled  how  to  torture  the  Catholic  Archbishop  of 
Cashel,  because  there  was  no  "  rack  or  other  engine  " 
in  Dublin.  Walsingham,  on  being  consulted,  sug- 
gested that  his  feet  might  be  toasted  against  the 
fire,  which  was  accordingly  done.  Some  of  the 
Anglican  bishops,  as  might  be  expected  from  fanatics, 
were  forward  in  recommending  torture.  But  Cecil 
was  no  more  of  a  fanatic  than  his  mistress.  What 
both  of  them  cared  for  was  not  a  particular  religious 
belief — they  had  both  of  them  conformed  to  Popery 
under  Queen  Mary — but  the  sovereign's  claim  to 
prescribe  religious  belief,  or  rather  religious  profes- 
sion, and  they  were  provoked  with  the  missionaries 
for  thwarting  them.  Provoking  it  was,  no  doubt. 
But  everything  seems  to  show  that  it  would  have 
been  better  to  pursue  the  earlier  policy  of  the  reign ; 
to  be  content  with  enacting  severe  laws  which 
practically  were  not  put  into  execution. 

The  English  branch  of  the  Jesuit  attack  was,  for 
political  purposes,  a  dead  failure.  A  few  persons  of 
rank,  who  at  heart  were  Catholics  before,  were  form- 


182  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

ally  reconciled  to  the  Pope.  Mendoza  claims  that 
among  them  were  six  peers  whose  names  he  con- 
ceals. These  peers,  if  he  is  to  be  believed,  were 
treasonable  enough  in  their  designs.  But,  even  by 
his  account,  they  were  determined  not  to  stir  unless 
a  foreign  army  should  have  first  entered  England. 

How  far  Mendoza's  master  was  from  seeing  his 
way  to  attack  England  at  this  time  was  strikingly 
shown  by  his  behavior  under  the  most  audacious 
outrage  that  Elizabeth  had  yet  inflicted  on  him. 
Some  twelve  months  before  (October  1580),  Drake 
had  returned  from  his  famous  voyage  round  the 
world.  That  voyage  was  nothing  else  than  a  pirati- 
cal expedition,  for  which  it  was  notorious  that  the 
funds  had  been  mainly  furnished  by  Elizabeth  and 
Leicester.  On  sea  and  land  Drake  had  robbed 
Philip  of  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones  to  the  value 
of  at  least  £750,000.  In  vain  did  Mendoza  clamor 
for  restitution  and  talk  about  war.  Elizabeth  kept 
the  booty,  knighted  Drake,  and  openly  showed  him 
every  mark  of  confidence  and  favor.  When  Men- 
doza told  her  that  as  she  would  not  hear  words,  they 
must  come  to  cannon  and  see  if  she  would  hear 
them,  she  replied  ("quietly  in  her  most  natural 
voice")  that,  if  he  used  threats  of  that  kind,  she 
would  throw  him  into  prison.  The  correspondence 
between  the  Spanish  ambassador  and  his  master 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK :  1570-1583.  183 

shows  that,  however  big  they  might  talk  about 
cannon,  they  felt  themselves  paralyzed  by  Elizabeth's 
intimate  relations  with  France.  She  had  managed 
to  keep  free  from  any  offensive  alliance  with  Henry 
III.  But  at  the  first  sound  of  the  Spanish  cannon  she 
could  have  it.  She  was,  therefore,  secure.  Prob- 
ably the  whole  history  of  diplomacy  does  not  show 
another  instance  of  such  a  complicated  balance  of 
forces  so  dexterously  manipulated. 

The  Irish  branch  of  the  Papal  attack,  the  land- 
ing of  the  legate  Sanders,*  the  insurrection  of 
Desmond  f  (1579-1583),  the  massacre  of  the  Pope's 
Italian  soldiers  at  Smerwick  (1580),  J  must  be  passed 

*  Dr.  Nicolas  Sanders,  legate  of  the  pope,  conducted  a 
small  body  of  men  that  sailed  in  two  ships  from  Ferrol, 
Spain,  with  the  expectation  of  conquering  Ireland  by  means 
of  an  army  that  would  rise  for  the  purpose.  The  party  landed 
at  the  harbor  of  Dingle,  at  the  southwestern  angle  of  county 
Kerry,  June  17,  1579.  The  result  was  an  insurrection  that 
gave  much  trouble,  though  it  was  entirely  unsuccessful. 
Sanders  was  captured  along  with  Desmond  in  December  of 
the  following,  and  shortly  died  of  dysentery. 

f  The  Earl  of  Desmond  headed  an  insurrection  that  began 
in  November  1579.  For  a  while  the  rebels  did  much  local 
mischief.  "  The  houses  of  merchants  were  sacked,  and  their 
wives  and  daughters  violated  and  murdered."  Just  four  years 
later,  while  a  fugitive  in  the  mountains,  with  a  price  on  his 
head,  he  was  betrayed  and  killed. 

X  Smerwick  capitulated  November  10,  1580.  "  A  certain 
number  of  the  original  party  had  fallen  sick,  and  had  been 
sent  back  to  Spain.  With  the  exception  of  these  and  of  the 
oflBLcers,  the  entire  party  was  slaughtered.    A  few  women, 


184  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

over  here.  It  is  enough  to  say  that,  in  Ireland,  too, 
the  Catholics  were  beaten.  We  turn  now  to  their 
attempt  to  get  hold  of  Scotland  (1579-1582). 

Scotland  was  in  a  state  of  anarchy,  from  which 
it  could  only  be  rescued  by  an  able  and  courageous 
king.  The  nobles  instead  of  becoming  weaker,  as 
elsewhere,  had  acquired  a  strength  and  indepen- 
dence greater  even  than  their  fathers  had  enjoyed. 
Thirty  years  earlier,  the  Church  had  possessed  quite 
half  the  land  of  the  country,  and  had  steadily  sup- 
ported the  crown.  Almost  the  whole  of  this  wealth 
had  been  seized  in  one  form  or  another  by  the 
nobles.  And  though,  as  compared  with  English 
noblemen,  they  were  still  poor  in  money,  they  were 
much  bigger  men  relatively  to  their  sovereign.  The 
power  of  the  crown  was  extensive  enough  in  theory. 
"What  was  wanted  was  a  king  who  should  know 
how  to  convert  it  into  a  reality.  That  was  more 
than  any  regent  could  do.  Even  Moray  had  not 
succeeded.  The  house  of  Douglas  was  one  of  the 
most  powerful  in  Scotland,  and  Morton,  who  had 
been  looked  on  as  its  head  during  the  minority  of 
the  Earl  of  Angus,  was  an  able  and  daring  man. 
But  he  had  not  the  large  views,  the  public  spirit,  or 

some  of  them  pregnant,  were  hanged.  A  servant  of  Sanders's, 
an  Irish  gentleman,  and  a  priest,  were  hanged  also.  The 
bodies,  six  hundred  in  all,  were  stripped  and  laid  out  upon 
the  sands." — Froude,  xi :  359. 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  185 

the  integrity  of  Moray.  He  was  feared  by  all,  hated 
by  many,  respected  by  none.  As  a  mere  party 
chief,  no  one  would  have  been  better  able  to  hold 
his  own.  As  representing  the  crown,  he  had  every 
man's  hand  against  him.  To  subsidize  such  a  man 
was  perfectl}^  useless.  If  Elizabeth  was  to  make  his 
cause  her  own,  she  might  just  as  well  undertake  the 
conquest  of  Scotland  at  once. 

The  essence  of  the  good  understanding  between 
England  and  France  was  that  both  countries  should 
keep  their  hands  off  Scotland.  Elizabeth,  knowing 
that  if  worst  came  to  worst,  she  could  always  be 
beforehand  with  France  in  the  northern  kingdom, 
could  afford  to  respect  this  arrangement,  and  she  did 
mean  to  respect  it.  France,  on  the  other  hand,  be- 
ing also  well  aware  of  the  advantage  given  to  Eng- 
land by  geographical  situation,  was  always  tempted 
to  steal  a  march  on  her,  and  even  when  most  desir- 
ous of  her  alliance,  never  quite  gave  up  intrigues  in 
Scotland.  This  was  equally  the  case  whatever  party 
was  uppermost  at  the  French  court,  whether  its 
policy  was  being  directed  by  the  King  or  by  the 
Duke  of  Guise. 

The  Jesuits  looked  on  Guise  as  their  fighting  man, 
who  was  to  do  the  work  which  they  could  not  pre- 
vail on  crowned  heads  to  undertake.  James,  though 
only  thirteen,  had  been  declared  of  age.    It  was 


186  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.! 

too  late  to  think  of  deposing  him.  If  his  character 
was  feeble,  his  understanding  and  acquirements 
were  much  beyond  his  years,  and  his  preferences 
were  already  a  force  to  be  reckoned  with  in  Scotch 
politics.  His  interests  were  evidently  opposed  to 
those  of  his  mother.  But  the  Jesuits  hoped  to  per- 
suade him  that  his  seat  would  never  be  secure  unless 
he  came  to  a  compromise  with  her  on  the  terms  that 
he  was  to  accept  the  crown  as  her  gift  and  recognize 
her  joint-sovereignty.  This  would  throw  him  en- 
tirely into  the  hands  of  the  Catholic  nobles,  and 
would  be  a  virtual  declaration  of  war  against  Eliza- 
beth. He  would  have  to  proclaim  himself  a  Catholic, 
and  call  in  the  French.  It  was  hoped  that  Philip, 
jealous  though  he  had  always  been  of  French  inter- 
ference, would  not  object  to  an  expedition  warranted 
by  the  Jesuits  and  commanded  by  Guise,  who  was 
more  and  more  sinking  into  a  tool  of  Spain  and 
Kome.  A  combined  army  of  Scotch  and  French 
would  pour  across  the  Border.  It  would  be  joined 
by  the  English  Catholics.  Elizabeth  would  be  de- 
posed, and  Mary  set  on  the  throne. 

It  was  a  pretty  scheme  on  paper,  but  certain  to 
break  down  in  every  stage  of  its  execution.  James 
might  chaffer  with  his  mother ;  but,  young  as  he 
was,  he  knew  well  that  she  meant  to  overreach  him. 
He  would  be  glad  enough  to  get  rid  of  Morton,  but 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  18Y 

he  did  not  want  to  be  a  puppet  in  the  hands  of  the 
Marians.  He  did  not  like  the  Presbyterian  preachers ; 
but  the  young  pedant  already  valued  himself  on  his 
skill  in  confuting  the  apologists  of  Popery.  He  re- 
sented Elizabeth's  lectures ;  but  he  knew  that  his 
succession  to  the  English  crown  depended  on  her  good 
will,  and  he  meant  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  her. 
1^0  approval  of  the  scheme  could  be  obtained  from 
Philip,  and  if  he  did  not  peremptorily  forbid  the  ex- 
pedition, it  was  because  he  did  not  believe  it  would 
come  off.  If  a  French  army  had  appeared  in  Scot- 
land, it  would  have  been  treated  as  all  foreigners 
were  in  that  country.  And  finally,  if,  j^er  imjpossihile, 
the  French  and  Scotch  had  entered  England,  they 
would  have  been  overwhelmed  by  such  an  unanimous 
uprising  of  the  English  people  of  all  parties  and  creeds 
as  had  never  been  witnessed  in  our  history. 

Historians,  who  would  have  us  believe  that  Eliza- 
beth was  constantly  bringing  England  to  the  verge 
of  ruin  by  her  stinginess  and  want  of  spirit,  represent 
this  combination  as  highly  formidable.  It  required 
careful  watching ;  but  the  only  thing  that  could  make 
it  really  dangerous  was  rash  and  premature  employ- 
ment of  force  by  England — the  course  advocated  not 
only  by  Burghley,  but  by  the  whole  Council.  Eliza- 
beth seems  to  have  stood  absolutely  alone  in  her 
opinion ;  but  here,  as  always,  though  she  allowed  her 


188  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

ministers  to  speak  their  minds  freely,  she  did  not  fear 
to  act  on  her  own  judgment  against  their  unanimous 
advice. 

To  carry  out  their  schemes,  Guise  and  the  Jesuits 
sent  to  Scotland  a  nephew  of  the  late  Eegent  Lennox, 
Esme  Stuart,  who  had  been  brought  up  in  France, 
and  bore  the  title  of  Count  d'Aubigny  (September, 
15Y9).  He  speedily  won  the  heart  of  the  King,  who 
created  him  Earl,  and  afterwards  Duke  of  Lennox. 
Elizabeth  soon  obtained  proof  of  his  designs,  and 
urged  Morton  to  resist  them  by  force.  But  the 
favorite,  professing  to  be  converted  to  Protestantism, 
enlisted  the  preachers  on  his  side,  and,  by  this  un- 
natural coalition,  Morton  was  brought  to  the  scaffold  * 
(June,  1581).  During  the  interval  between  his  arrest 
and  execution,  the  English  Council  were  urgent  with 
Elizabeth  to  invade  Scotland,  rescue  the  Anglophile 
leader,  and  crush  Lennox.  She  went  all  lengths  in 
the  way  of  threats.  Lord  Hundson  was  even  ordered 
to  muster  an  army  on  the  Border.  But  this  last  step 
at  once  produced  an  energetic  protest  from  the  French 
ambassador;  and  in  Scotland  there  was  a  general 

*  On  June  2,  1581,  as  art  and  part  in  Darnley's  murder,  he 
was  beheaded  with  his  own  '  Maiden '  [guillotine]  in  the 
Edinburgh  Grassmarket.  '  He  died  proudly,'  said  his  enemies, 
*  and  Roman-like,  as  he  had  lived  ; '  *  constantly,  humbly,  and 
Christian-like,'  said  the  pastors  who  were  beholders." — Cham' 
leers'  Encyc. 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  189 

rally  of  all  parties  against  the  "  auld  enemies." 
Elizabeth  had  never  meant  to  make  her  threats  good, 
and  Morton  was  left  to  his  fate.  She  was  quite 
right  not  to  invade  Scotland ;  but,  that  being  her 
intention,  she  should  not  have  tempted  Morton  to 
treason  by  the  promise  of  her  protection.  No  male 
statesman  would  have  been  so  insensible  to  dis- 
honor. 

The  death  of  the  man  who,  next  to  Moray,  had 
been  the  mainstay  of  the  Reformation  and  the 
scourge  of  the  Marian  party,  was  received  with  a 
shout  of  exultation  from  Catholic  Europe.  Already 
in  their  heated  imaginations  the  Jesuits  saw  the 
Kirk  overthrown  and  the  vantage  ground  gained 
for  an  attack  on  England.  Some  modern  historians 
— with  less  excuse,  since  they  have  the  sequel  before 
their  eyes — make  the  same  blunder.  The  situation 
was  really  unchanged.  Morton,  who  had  the  true 
antipathy  of  a  Scottish  noble  to  clerics  of  all  sorts, 
had  plundered  the  Kirk  ministers,  and  tried  to  bring 
them  under  the  episcopal  yoke.  He  had  quarrelled 
with  most  of  his  old  associates  of  the  Congregation. 
It  was  their  enmity  quite  as  much  as  the  attack  of 
Lennox  that  had  pulled  him  down.  When  he  was 
out  of  the  way  they  naturally  reverted  to  an  Anglo- 
phile policy.  The  weakness  of  the  Catholic  party 
was  plainly  shown  by  the  fact  that  Lennox  himself, 


190  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  pupil  of  the  Jesuits,  never  ventured  to  throw  off 
the  disguise  of  a  heretic. 

The  further  development  of  the  Jesuit  scheme 
met  with  difficulties  on  all  sides.  Most  even  of  the 
Catholic  lords  were  alarmed  by  the  suggestion  that 
James  should  hold  the  crown  by  the  gift  of  his 
mother,  because  it  would  imply  that  hitherto  he 
had  not  been  lawful  King ;  and  this  would  invalidate 
their  titles  to  all  the  lands  they  had  grabbed  from 
Church  and  crown  during  the  last  fourteen  years. 
It  would  seem  therefore  that,  if  they  had  harassed 
the  Government  during  all  that  time,  it  was  from  a 
liking  for  anarchy  rather  than  from  attachment  to 
Mary.  Two  Jesuits,  Crichton  and  Holt,  who  were 
sent  in  disguise  to  Scotland,  found  Lennox  despond- 
ing. He  was  obliged  to  confess  that,  greatly  as  he 
had  fascinated  the  King,  he  could  not  move  him  an 
inch  in  his  religious  opinions.  On  the  contrary, 
James  imagined  that  his  controversial  skill  had  con* 
verted  Lennox,  and  was  extremely  proud  of  the  feat. 
The  only  course  remaining  was  to  seize  him,  and 
send  him  to  France  or  Spain,  Lennox  in  the  mean- 
time administering  the  Government  in  the  name  of 
Mary.  But  to  carry  out  this  stroke,  Lennox  said 
he  must  have  a  foreign  army.  In  view  of  the  mutual 
jealousy  of  France  and  Spain  it  was  suggested  that, 
if  Philip  would  furnish  money  underhand,  the  Pope 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK :  1570-1583.  191 

might  send  an  Italian  army  direct  to  Scotland,  via 
the  Straits  of  Gibraltar.  Crichton  went  to  Rome 
to  arrange  this  precious  scheme,  and  Holt  was  pro- 
ceeding to  Madrid.  But  Philip  forbade  him  to  come. 
If  Lennox  could  convert  James,  or  send  him  to  Spain, 
well  and  good.  But  until  one  of  these  preliminaries 
was  accomplished  he  was  to  expect  no  help  from 
Philip.  ITor  were  prospects  more  hopeful  on  the 
side  of  France.  Mary  from  her  prison  implored 
Guise  to  undertake  the  long-planned  expedition. 
But  he  would  not  venture  it  without  the  assent  of 
his  own  sovereign  and  the  King  of  Spain.  While 
he  was  hesitating,  the  Anglophiles  patched  up  their 
difference  and  got  possession  of  the  King's  person 
(Eaid  of  Ruthven,  August  1582).*  His  tears  were 
unavailing.  "  Better  bairns  greet,"  said  the  Master 
of  Glamis,  "  than  bearded  men."  The  favorite  fled 
to  France,  where  he  died  in  the  next  year.f 

Thus  once  more  had  it  been  clearly  shown  that  if 

*  "  James  had  been  hunting  in  Athol ;  he  passed  through 
Perth  on  his  way  to  Falkland  in  the  middle  of  August ;  and 
when  riding  out  of  the  town,  on  the  morning  of  the  22d,  he 
was  surrounded  by  a  party  of  men-at-arms,  taken,  and 
carried  back  to  Gowrie  House." — Froude,  xi :  528. 

t  The  character  of  Lennox  was  so  perfidious  that  it  is  not 
improbable  that  the  Duke  of  Guise, — discovering  his  treachery 
and  learning  that  he  was  possessed  of  secrets  which,  if  known, 
would  cost  Mary  her  life, — may  have  had  some  connection 
with  the  attack  of  dysentery  of  which  Lennox  died. 


192  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  Anglophiles  were  left  to  depend  on  themselves 
they  would  not  fail  to  do  all  that  was  necessary  to 
safeguard  English  interests.  "  Anglophiles "  is  a 
convenient  appellation.  But,  strictly  speaking, 
there  was  no  party  in  Scotland  that  loved  England. 
There  was  a  religious  party  to  whom  it  was  of  the 
highest  importance  that  Elizabeth  should  be  safe 
and  powerful.  She  was  therefore  certain  of  its  co- 
operation. This  party  would  not  be  always  upper- 
most; for  Scottish  nobles  were  too  selfish,  too 
treacherous,  too  much  interested  in  disorder  to  per- 
mit any  stability.  But,  whether  in  power  or  in 
opposition,  it  would  be  able  and  it  would  be  obliged 
to  serve  English  interests.  There  was  only  one 
way  in  which  it  could  be  paralyzed  or  alienated, 
and  that  was  by  a  recurrence  on  the  part  of  Eng- 
land to  the  traditions  of  armed  interference  inherited 
by  Elizabeth's  councillors  from  Henry  YIIl.  and  the 
Protector  Somerset. 

Such  is  the  plain  history  of  this  Jesuit  and  Papal 
scheme  which  we  are  asked  to  believe  was  so  danger- 
ous to  England  and  so  inadequately  handled  by  Eliza- 
beth. She  had  not  shown  much  concern  for  her 
honor.  But  her  coolness,  her  intrepidity,  her  cor- 
rect estimate  of  the  forces  with  which  she  had  to 
deal,  her  magnificent  confidence  in  her  own  judg- 
ment, saved  England  from  the  endless  expenditure 


THE  PAPAL  ATTACK  :  1570-1583.  193 

of  blood  and  treasure  into  which  her  advisers  would 
have  plunged,  and  prolonged  the  formal  peace  with 
her  three  principal  neighbors,  a  peace  of  already  un- 
exampled duration,  and  of  incalculable  advantage 
to  her  country. 

The  policy  which  Elizabeth  had  thus  deliberately 
adopted  towards  Scotland  she  persisted  in.  The 
successful  Anglophiles  clamored  for  pensions,  and 
her  ministers  were  for  gratifying  them.  She  was 
willing  to  give  a  moderate  pension  to  James,  but 
not  a  penny  to  the  nobles.  ''Her  servants  and 
favorites,"  she  said,  "  professed  to  love  her  for  her 
high  qualities,  AlenQon  for  her  beauty,  and  the  Scots, 
for  her  crown ;  but  they  all  wanted  the  same  thing 
in  the  end  ;  they  wanted  nothing  but  her  money,  and 
they  should  not  have  it."  She  had  ascertained  that 
James  regarded  his  mother  as  his  rival  for  the  crowns 
of  both  kingdoms,  and  that,  whatever  he  might  some- 
times pretend,  his  real  wish  was  that  she  should  be 
kept  under  lock  and  key.  She  had  also  satisfied 
herself  that  the  Scottish  noblemen  on  whom  Mary 
counted  would,  with  very  few  exceptions,  throw 
every  difficulty  in  the  way  of  her  restoration,  out  of 
regard  for  their  own  private  interests — the  only 
datum  from  which  it  was  safe  to  calculate  in  deal- 
ing with  a  Scottish  noblema,n.  She  therefore  felt 
herself  secure.    By  communicating  her  knowledge 


194  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

to  Mary  she  could  show  her  the  hopelessness  of  her 
intrigues  in  Scotland ;  while  a  resumption  of  friendly 
negotiations  for  her  restoration  would  always  be  a 
cheap  and  effectual  way  of  intimidating  James. 
Thus  she  could  look  on  with  equanimity  when  his 
new  favorite  Stewart,  Earl  of  Arran,*  again  chased 
the  Anglophiles  into  England  (December,  1583). 
Arran  himself  urgently  entreated  her  to  accept  him 
and  his  young  master  as  the  genuine  Anglophiles. 
Walsingham's  voice  was  still  for  war.  But,  with 
both  factions  at  her  feet  and  suing  for  her  favor, 
Elizabeth  had  good  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  her 
policy  of  leaving  the  Scottish  nobles  to  worry  it  out 
among  themselves. 

*  James  had  given  this  man  the  title  and  estates  of  the 
exiled  Hamiltons. 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS :  1584-86.    195 


CHAPTEE  YIII. 

THE  PROTECTORATE  OF  THE    NETHERLANDS  I  1584-86. 

"We  are  now  approaching  the  great  crisis  of  the 
reign — some  may  think  of  English  history — the 
grand  struggle  with  Spain  ;  a  struggle  which,  if 
Elizabeth  had  allowed  herself  to  be  guided  by  her 
most  celebrated  counsellors,  would  have  been  entered 
upon  a  quarter  of  a  century  earlier.  England  was 
then  unarmed  and  weighed  down  with  a  load  of 
debt,  the  legacy  of  three  thriftless  and  pugnacious 
reigns.  The  population  was  still  mainly  Catholic. 
The  great  nobles  still  thought  themselves  a  match 
for  the  crown,  and  many  of  them  longed  to  make 
one  more  effort  to  assert  their  old  position  in  the 
State.  Trade  and  industry  were  languishing.  The 
poorer  classes  were  suffering  and  discontented. 
Scotland  was  in  the  hands  of  a  most  dangerous 
enemy,  whose  title  to  the  English  crown  was  held 
by  many  to  be  better  than  Elizabeth's.  Philip  II., 
as  yet  unharassed  by  revolt,  seemed  almost  to  have 


196  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

drawn  England  as  a  sort  of  satellite  into  the  vast 
orbit  of  his  empire. 

ITearly  a  generation  had  now  passed  away  since 
Elizabeth  ascended  the  throne.  Every  year  of  it  had 
seen  some  amendment  in  the  condition  of  the  country. 
Under  a  pacific  and  thrifty  Government  taxation  had 
been  light  beyond  precedent.  All  debts,  even  those 
of  Henry  YIII.,  had  been  honorably  paid  off.  While 
the  lord  of  American  gold  mines  and  of  the  richest 
commercial  centres  in  Europe  could  not  raise  a  loan 
on  any  terms,  Elizabeth  could  borrow  when  she 
pleased  at  five  .per  cent.  But  she  had  ceased  to  bor- 
row, for  she  had  a  modest  surplus  stored  in  her  treas- 
ury, a  department  of  the  administration  managed 
under  her  own  close  personal  supervision.  A  numer- 
ous militia  had  been  enrolled  and  partially  trained. 
Large  magazines  of  arms  had  been  accumulated.  A 
navy  had  been  created  ;  not  a  large  one  indeed ;  but 
it  did  not  need  to  be  large,  for  the  warship  of  those 
days  did  not  differ  from  the  ordinary  vessel  of  com- 
merce, nor  was  its  crew  differently  trained.  The  royal 
navy  could  therefore  be  indefinitely  increased  if  need 
arose.  Philip's  great  generals,  Alva  and  Parma,  had 
long  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  conquest  of  Eng- 
land would  be  the  most  difficult  enterprise  their  mas- 
ter could  undertake.  The  wealth  of  landed  proprie- 
tors and  traders  had  increased  enormously.     "New 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  :  1584-86.    197 

manufactures  had  been  started  by  exiles  from  the 
Netherlands.  New  branches  of  foreign  commerce 
had  been  opened  up.  The  poor  were  well  employed 
and  contented.  I  believe  it  would  be  impossible  to  find 
in  the  previous  history  of  England,  or,  for  that  mat- 
ter, of  Europe,  since  the  fall  of  the  Eoman  Empire, 
any  instance  of  peace,  prosperity,  and  good  govern- 
ment extending  over  so  many  years. 

Looking  abroad  we  find  that  in  all  directions  the 
strength  and  security  of  Elizabeth's  position  had  been 
immensely  increased.  Her  ministers,  especially  Wal- 
singham — for  Burghley  in  his  old  age  came  at  last 
to  see  more  with  the  eyes  of  his  mistress — believed 
that  by  a  more  spirited  policy  Scotland  might  have 
been  converted  into  a  submissive  and  valuable  ally. 
Elizabeth  alone  saw  this  was  impossible ;  that,  so 
treated,  Scotland  would  become  to  England  what 
Holland  was  to  Philip,  what  "  the  Spanish  ulcer  " 
was  afterwards  to  Napoleon — a  fatal  drain  on  her 
strength  and  resources.  It  was  enough  for  Elizabeth 
if  the  northern  kingdom  was  so  handled  as  to  be 
harmless  ;  and  this,  as  I  have  shown,  was  in  fact  its 
condition  from  the  moment  that  the  only  Scottish 
ruler  who  could  be  really  dangerous  was  locked  up 
in  England. 

The  Dutch  revolt  crippled  Philip.  The  conquest 
of  England  was  postponed  till  the  Dutch  revolt 


198  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

should  be  suppressed.  Why  then,  it  has  been  asked, 
did  not  Elizabeth  support  the  Dutch  more  vigorously  ? 
^  The  answer  is  a  simple  one.  If  she  had  done  so  the 
suppression  of  the  Dutch  revolt  would  have  been 
postponed  to  the  conquest  of  England.  This  is 
proved  by  the  events  now  to  be  related.  Elizabeth 
was  obliged  by  new  circumstances  to  intervene  more 
vigorously  in  the  ^Netherlands,  and  the  result  was 
the  Armada.  If  the  attack  had  come  ten  or  fifteen 
years  earlier  the  fortune  of  England  might  have 
been  different. 

Elizabeth's  foreign  policy  has  been  judged  unfavor- 
ably by  writers  who  have  failed  to  keep  in  view  how 
completely  it  turned  on  her  relations  with  France. 
Though  her  interests  and  those  of  Henry  III.  cannot 
be  called  identical,  they  coincided  sufficiently  to  make 
it  possible  to  keep  up  a  good  understanding  which 
was  of  the  highest  advantage  to  both  countries.  But 
to  maintain  this  good  understanding  there  was  need 
of  the  coolest  temper  and  judgment  on  the  part  of 
the  rulers  ;  for  the  two  peoples  were  hopelessly  hos- 
tile. They  were  like  two  gamecocks  in  adjoining 
pens.  The  Spaniards  were  respected  and  liked  by 
our  countrymen.  Their  grave  dignity,  even  their 
stiff  assumption  of  intrinsic  superiority,  were  too  like 
our  own  not  to  awake  a  certain  appreciative  sym- 
pathy.   Whereas  all  Englishmen  from  peer  to  peas- 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS :  1584-86.    199 

ant  would  at  any  time  have  enjoyed  a  tussle  with 
France,  until  its  burdens  began  to  be  felt. 

Henry  III.,  with  whom  the  Yalois  dynasty  was 
about  to  expire,  was  far  from  being  the  incompetent 
driveller  depicted  by  most  historians.  He  had  good 
abilities,  plenty  of  natural  courage  when  roused,  and 
a  thorough  comprehension  of  the  politics  of  his  day. 
His  aims  and  plans  were  well  conceived.  But  with 
no  child  to  care  for,  and  immersed  in  degrading  self- 
indulgence,  he  wearied  of  the  exertions  and  sacrifices 
necessary  for  carrying  them  through.  Short  spells  of 
sensible  and  energetic  action  were  succeeded  by 
periods  of  unworthy  lassitude  and  pusillanimous  sur- 
render. Before  he  came  to  the  throne  he  had  been 
the  chief  organizer  of  the  St.  Bartholomew  Massacre. 
As  King  he  naturally  inclined,  like  Elizabeth,  "Wil- 
liam of  Orange,  and  Henry  of  Navarre,  to  make  con- 
sideration of  religion  subordinate  to  considerations 
of  State.  Both  he  and  Navarre  would  have  been 
glad  to  throw  over  the  fanatical  or  factious  partisans 
by  whom  they  were  surrounded,  and  rally  the  Poli- 
tiques  to  their  support.  But  it  was  a  step  that 
neither  as  yet  ventured  openly  to  take.  The  one 
was  obliged  to  affect  zeal  for  the  old  religion,  the 
other  for  the  new. 

Elizabeth's  ministers,  with  short-sighted  animosity, 
had  been  urging  her  throughout  her  reign  to  give 


200  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

vigorous  support  to  the  Huguenots.  She  herself  took 
a  broader  view  of  the  situation.  She  preferred  to 
deal  with  the  legitimate  government  of  France  rec- 
ognized by  the  vast  majority  of  Frenchmen.  Henry 
III.,  as  she  well  knew,  did  not  intend  or  desire  to  ex- 
terminate the  Huguenots.  If  that  turbulent  faction 
had  been  openly  abetted  in  its  arrogant  claims  by 
English  assistance,  he  would  have  been  obliged  to 
become  the  mere  instrument  of  Elizabeth's  worst 
enemies,  Guise  and  the  Holy  League.  France  would 
have  ceased  to  be  any  counterpoise  to  Spain.  The 
English  Queen  had  so  skilfully  played  a  most  diffi- 
cult and  delicate  game  that  Henry  of  IS'avarre  had 
been  able  to  keep  his  head  above  water  ;  Guise  had 
upon  the  whole  been  held  in  check ;  the  royal  au- 
thority, though  impaired,  had  still  controlled  the 
foreign  policy  of  France,  and  so,  since  1572,  had 
given  England  a  firm  and  useful  ally.  As  long  as 
this  balanced  situation  could  be  maintained,  England 
was  safe. 

But  the  time  was  now  at  hand  when  this  nice 
equilibrium  of  forces  would  be  disturbed  by  events 
which  neither  Elizabeth  nor  any  one  else  could  help. 
Alen9on,  the  last  of  the  Yalois  line,  was  dying. 
When  he  should  be  gone,  the  next  heir  to  the  French 
King  would  be  no  other  than  the  Huguenot  Henry 
of  Bourbon,  King  of  the  tiny  morsel  of  l!Tavarre  that 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS :  1584-86.    201 

lay  north  of  the  Pyrenees.  Henry  III.  wished  to 
recognize  his  right.  But  it  was  impossible  that 
Guise  or  Philip,  or  the  French  nation  itself,  should 
tolerate  this  prospect.  Thus  the  great  war  of  re- 
ligion which  Elizabeth  had  so  carefully  abstained 
from  stirring  up  was  now  inevitable.  The  French 
alliance,  the  key-stone  of  her  policy,  was  about  to 
crumble  away  with  the  authority  of  the  French  King 
which  she  had  buttressed  up.  He  would  be  com- 
pelled either  to  become  the  mere  instrument  of  the 
Papal  party  or  to  combine  openly  with  the  Huguenot 
leader.  In  either  case.  Guise,  not  Henry  III.,  would 
be  the  virtual  sovereign,  and  Elizabeth's  alliance 
would  not  be  with  France  but  with  a  French  faction. 
She  would  thus  be  forced  into  the  position  which  she 
had  hitherto  refused  to  accept — that  of  sole  pro- 
tector of  French  and  Dutch  Protestants,  and  open 
antagonist  of  Spain.  The  more  showy  part  she  was 
now  to  play  has  been  the  chief  foundation  of  her 
glory  with  posterity.  It  is  a  glory  which  she  de- 
serves. The  most  industrious  disparagement  will 
never  rob  her  of  it.  But  the  sober  student  will  be 
of  opinion  that  her  reputation  as  a  statesman  has  a 
more  solid  basis  in  the  skill  and  firmness  with  which 
during  so  many  years  she  staved  off  the  necessity 
for  decisive  action. 


202  QUEEN  ELIZABETH, 

Although  the  discovery  of  the  Throgmorton  *  plot 
(Nov.,  1583),  and  the  consequent  expulsion  of  the 
Spanish  ambassador,  Mendoza,  were  not  immediately 
followed  by  open  war  between  England  and  Spain, 
yet  the  course  of  events  thenceforward  tended 
directly  to  that  issue.  Elizabeth  immediately  pro- 
posed to  the  Dutch  States  to  form  a  naval  alliance 
against  Spain,  and  to  concert  other  measures  for 
mutual  defence.  Orange  met  the  offer  with  alacrity, 
and  pressed  Elizabeth  to  accept  the  sovereignty 
of  Holland,  Zealand,  and  Utrecht.  Perhaps  there 
was  no  former  ruler  of  England  who  would  not 
have  clutched  at  such  an  opportunity  of  territorial 
aggrandizement.  ,  For  Elizabeth  it  had  no  charms. 
Every  sensible  person  now  will  applaud  the  sobriety 
of  her  aims.  But  though  she  eschewed  territory, 
she  desired  to  have  military  occupation  of  one  or 

*  Francis  Throgmorton  (or  Throckmorton)  visited  Madrid, 
Paris,  and  other  places,  in  the  interests  of  a  Catholic  conspir- 
acy to  re-establish  the  Catholic  religion  in  England.  The  plan 
was  that  the  country  was  to  be  invaded  by  a  Spanish  army 
with  the  co-operation  of  an  army  which  the  Guises  proposed  to 
raise  in  the  Netherlands.  Returning  to  London,  he  engaged 
in  cypher  correspondence  with  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  and  with 
Mendoza,  the  Spanish  ambassador.  Evidence  enough  was 
found  to  confirm  the  suspicions  against  him.  He  was  carried 
to  the  Tower  and,  refusing  to  answer  questions,  was  twice  put 
to  the  rack.  On  the  second  torture  he  made  a  full  confession, 
which  he  repeated  later.  He  was  at  once  condemned  to  death, 
but  was  not  executed  until  the  10th  of  July  following. 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  :  1584-86.    203 

more  coast  fortresses,  at  all  events  for  a  time,  both 
as  a  security  for  the  fidelity  of  the  Dutch  to  any  en- 
gagements they  might  make  with  her,  and  to  enable 
her  to  treat  on  more  equal  terms  with  France  or 
Spain,  if  the  Netherlands  were  destined,  after  all,  to 
fall  into  the  hands  of  one  of  those  powers. 

While  these  negotiations  were  in  progress,  "William 
of  Orange  was  murdered  (June  30-July  10,  1584). 
Alen§on  had  died  a  month  earlier.  The  sovereignty 
of  the  revolted  ISTetherlands  was  thus  vacant.  Eliza- 
beth advised  a  joint  protectorate  by  France  and 
England.  But  the  Dutch  had  small  confidence  in 
protectorates,  especially  of  the  joint  kind.  What 
they  wanted  was  a  sovereign,  and  as  Elizabeth 
would  not  accept  them  as  her  subjects  they  offered 
themselves  to  Henry  III.  But  after  nibbling  at  the 
offer  for  eight  months  Henry  was  obliged  to  refuse 
it.  His  openly  expressed  intention  to  recognize  the 
King  of  Navarre  as  his  heir  had  caused  a  revival  of 
the  Holy  League.*  During  the  winter  1584-5  its 
reorganization  was  busily  going  on.    Philip  promised 


*  This  Holy  League  (Sainte  Ligue)  was  formed  in  1576  by 
the  Catholic  party  in  France.  Its  purposes  were  to  annihi- 
late the  Huguenots  and  to  seat  the  Guises  on  the  throne.  In 
Spain  it  was  naturally  supported  by  Philip  II.  It  continued 
in  existence  until  1596  when  it  was  abolished  by  Henry  IV. 
For  an  outline  of  the  purposes  and  spirit  of  the  league,  see  note 
on  the  edict  of  Nemours,  next  page. 


204  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

to  subsidize  it.  Mendoza,  now  ambassador  at  Paris, 
was  its  life  and  soul.  The  insurrection  was  on  the 
point  of  breaking  out.  Henry  III.  knew  that  the  vast 
majority  of  Frenchmen  were  Catholics.  To  accept 
the  Dutch  offer  would,  he  feared,  drive  them  all  into 
the  ranks  of  the  Holy  League.  He  therefore  dis- 
missed the  Dutch  envoys  with  the  recommendation 
that  they  should  apply  to  England  for  protection 
(February  28-March  10,  1585). 

The  manifesto  of  the  Leaguers  appeared  at  the 
end  of  March  (1585).  Henry  of  Navarre  was  de- 
clared incapable,  as  a  Protestant,  of  succeeding  to 
the  crown.  Henry  IIL  was  summoned  to  extirpate 
heresy.  To  enforce  these  demands  the  Leaguers  flew 
to  arms  all  over  France.  Had  Henry  III.  been  a  man 
of  spirit  he  would  have  placed  himself  at  the  head 
of  the  loyal  Catholics  and  fought  it  out.  But  by  the 
compact  of  Nemours  *  he  conceded  all  the  demands 

*  At  the  first  Henry  was  disposed  to  resist  the  demands  of 
the  League,  but  his  mother  Catherine  de'  Medici,  frightened 
him  into  accepting  it,  and  the  treaty  was  signed  at  Nemours, 
July  7,  1585,  to  the  effect  that  "  by  an  irrevocable  edict  the 
practice  of  the  new  religion  should  be  forbidden,  and  that 
there  should  henceforth  be  no  other  practice  of  religion, 
throughout  the  realm  of  France,  save  that  of  the  Catholic. 
Apostolic  and  Roman  ;  that  all  the  ministers  should  depart 
from  the  kingdom  within  a  month  ;  that  all  the  subjects  of 
his  Majesty  should  be  bound  to  live  according  to  the  Catholic 
religion  and  make  a  profession  thereof  within  six  months, 
on  pain  of  confiscation  both  of    person    and  goods  ;  that 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  :  1584-86.    205 

of  the  League  (June  28 — July  7, 1585).  Thus  began 
the  last  great  war  of  religion,  which  lasted  till 
Henry  of  Navarre  was  firmly  seated  on  the  throne 
of  France. 

Elizabeth  had  now  finally  lost  the  French  alliance, 
the  sheet-anchor  of  her  policy  since  1572,  and  she 
prepared  for  the  grand  struggle  which  could  no 
longer  be  averted.  As  France  failed  her,  she  must 
make  the  best  of  the  Dutch  alliance.  She  did  not 
conceal  from  herself  that  she  would  have  to  do  her 
share  of  the  fighting.  But  she  was  determined  that 
the  Dutch  should  also  do  theirs.  Deprived  of  all 
hope  of  help  from  France  they  wished  for  annexation 
to  the  English  crown,  because  solidarity  between 
the  two  countries  would  give  them  an  unlimited 
claim  upon  English  resources.  Elizabeth  uniformly 
told  them,  first  and  last,  that  nothing  should  induce 
her  to  accept  that  proposal.  She  would  give  them 
a  definite  amount  of  assistance  in  men  and  money. 
But  every  farthing  would  have  to  be  repaid  when 

heretics,  of  whatsoever  quality  they  might  be,  should  be  de- 
clared incapable  of  holding  benefices,  public  offices,  positions, 
and  dignities  ;  that  the  places  which  had  been  given  in  guard- 
ianship to  them  for  their  security,  should  be  taken  back  again 
forthwith  ;  and,  lastly,  that  the  princes  designated  in  the 
treaty,  amongst  whom  were  all  the  Guises  at  the  top,  should 
receive  as  guarantee  certain  places  to  be  held  by  them  for 
five  years."  It  was  this  edict,  says  Guizot,  that  made  the 
war  a  war  of  religion. 


206  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  war  was  over ;  and  in  the  meantime  she  must 
have  Flushing  and  Brill  as  security.  They  must 
also  bind  themselves  to  make  proper  exertions  in 
their  own  defence.  Gilpin,  her  agent  in  Zealand, 
had  warned  her  that  if  she  showed  herself  too  for- 
ward they  would  simply  throw  the  whole  burden 
of  the  war  upon  her.  Splendid  as  had  often  been 
the  resistance  of  separate  towns  when  besieged, 
there  had  been,  from  the  first,  lamentable  selfish- 
ness and  apathy  as  to  measures  for  combined  de- 
fence. The  States  had  less  than  6000  men  in  the 
field — half  of  them  English  volunteers — at  the 
very  time  when  they  were  assuring  Elizabeth  that, 
if  she  would  come  to  their  assistance,  they  could 
and  would  furnish  15,000.  She  was  justified  in  re- 
garding their  fine  promises  with  much  distrust. 

While  this  discussion  was  going  on,  Antwerp  was 
lost.  The  blame  of  the  delay,  if  blame  there  was^ 
must  be  divided  equally  between  the  bargainers. 
The  truth  is  that,  cavil  as  they  might  about  details, 
the  strength  of  the  English  contingent  was  not  the 
real  object  of  concern  to  either  of  them.  Each  was 
thinking  of  something  else.  Though  Elizabeth  had 
so  peremptorily  refused  the  sovereignty  offered  by 
the  United  Provinces,  they  were  still  bent  on  forcing 
it  upon  her.  She,  on  the  other  hand,  had  not  given 
up  the  hope  that  her  more  decisive  intervention 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  :  1584-86.    207 

would  drive  Philip  to  make  the  concessions  to  his  re- 
volted subjects  which  she  had  so  often  urged  upon 
him.  In  her  eyes,  Philip's  sovereignty  over  them 
was  indefeasible.  They  were,  perhaps,  justified  in 
asserting  their  ancient  constitutional  rights.  But  if 
those  were  guaranteed,  continuance  of  the  rebellion 
would  be  criminal.  Moreover,  she  held  that  elected 
deputies  were  but  amateur  statesmen,  and  had  better 
leave  the  haute  jpolitique  to  princes  to  settle. 
"  Princes,"  she  once  told  a  Dutch  deputation,  "  are 
not  to  be  charged  with  breach  of  faith  if  they 
sometimes  listen  to  both  sides ;  for  they  transact 
business  in  a  princely  way  and  with  a  princely  un- 
derstanding such  as  private  persons  cannot  have." 
Her  promise  not  to  make  peace  behind  their  backs 
was  not  to  be  interpreted  as  literally  as  if  it  had 
been  made  to  a  brother  prince.  It  merely  bound 
her — so  she  contended — not  to  make  peace  without 
safeguarding  their  interests  ;  that  is  to  say,  what  she 
considered  to  be  their  true  interests.  Conduct  based 
on  such  a  theory  would  not  be  tolerated  now,  and 
was  not  tamely  acquiesced  in  by  the  Dutch  then. 
But  to  speak  of  it  as  base  and  treacherous  is  an 
abuse  of  terms. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  follow  in  detail  the 
peace  negotiations  which  went  on  between  Elizabeth 
and  Parma  up  to  the  very  sailing  of  the  Armada 


208  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

(1586-8).  The  terms  on  which  the  Queen  was  pre- 
pared to  make  peace  never  varied  substantially  from 
first  to  last.  We  know  very  well  what  they  were. 
She  claimed  for  the  Protestants  of  the  Netherlands 
(who  were  a  minority,  perhaps,  even  in  the  rebel 
provinces)  precisely  the  same  degree  of  toleration 
which  she  allowed  to  her  own  Catholics.  They 
were  not  to  be  questioned  about  their  religion  ;  but 
there  was  to  be  no  public  worship  or  proselytizing. 
The  old  constitution,  as  before  Alva,  was  to  be  re- 
stored, which  would  have  involved  the  departure 
of  the  foreign  troops.  These  terms  would  not  have 
satisfied  the  States,  and  if  Philip  could  have  been 
induced  to  grant  them,  the  States  and  Elizabeth 
must  have  parted  company.  But,  as  he  would  make 
no  concessions,  the  Anglo-Dutch  alliance  could, 
and  did,  continue.  The  cautionary  towns  she  was 
determined  never  to  give  up  to  any  one  unless  (first) 
she  was  repaid  her  expenses  for  which  they  had  been 
mortgaged,  and  (secondly)  the  struggle  in  the  E'ether- 
lands  was  brought  to  an  end  on  terms  which  she  ap- 
proved. There  was,  therefore,  never  any  danger  of 
their  being  surrendered  to  Philip,  and  they  did,  in 
fact,  remain  in  Elizabeth's  hands  till  her  death. 

Elizabeth  has  been  severely  censured  for  selecting 
Leicester  to  command  the  English  army  in  the 
Ketherlands.    It  is  certain  that  he  was  marked  out 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  :  1584-86.    209 

by  public  opinion  as  the  fittest  person.  The  Queen's 
choice  was  heartily  approved  by  all  her  ministers, 
especially  by  Walsingham,  who  kept  up  the  most 
confidential  relations  with  Leicester,  and  backed  him 
throughout.  Custom  prescribed  that  an  English 
army  should  be  commanded,  not  by  a  professional 
soldier,  but  by  a  great  nobleman.  Among  the  no- 
bility there  were  a  few  who  had  done  a  little  soldier- 
ing in  a  rough  way  in  Scotland  or  Ireland,  but  no 
one  who  could  be  called  a  professional  general. 
The  momentous  step  which  Elizabeth  was  taking 
would  have  lost  half  its  significance  in  the  eyes  of 
Europe  if  any  less  conspicuous  person  than  Lei- 
cester had  been  appointed.  Moreover,  it  was  es- 
sential that  the  nobleman  selected  should  be  able 
and  willing  to  spend  largely  out  of  his  own 
resources.  By  traditional  usage,  derived  from  feudal 
times,  peers  who  were  employed  on  temporary  serv- 
ices not  only  received  no  salary,  but  were  expected 
to  defray  their  own  expenses,  and  defray  them  hand- 
somely. Never  did  an  English  nobleman  show  more 
public  spirit  in  this  respect  than  Leicester.  He 
raised  every  penny  he  could  by  mortgaging  his  es- 
tates. He  not  only  paid  his  own  personal  expenses, 
but  advanced  large  sums  for  military  purposes, 
which  his  mistress  never  thought  of  repaying  him. 
If  he  effected  little  as  a  general,  it  was  because 


210  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

he  was  not  provided  with  the  means.  Serious  mis- 
takes he  certainly  made,  but  they  were  not  of  a 
military  kind. 

Leicester  was  now  fifty-four,  bald,  white-bearded, 
and  red-faced,  but  still  imposing  in  figure,  carriage 
and  dress.  To  Elizabeth  he  was  dear  as  the  friend 
of  her  youth,  one  who,  she  was  persuaded,  had  loved 
her  for  herself  when  they  were  both  thirty  years 
younger,  and  was  still  her  most  devoted  and  trust- 
worthy servant.  Burghley  she  liked  and  trusted, 
and  ail  the  more  since  he  had  become  a  more  docile 
instrument  of  her  policy.  Walsingham,  a  keener  in- 
tellect and  more  independent  character,  she  could 
not  but  value,  though  impatient  under  his  penetrat- 
ing suspicion  and  almost  constant  disapproval. 
Leicester  was  the  intimate  friend,  the  frequent  com- 
panion of  her  leisure  hours.  None  of  her  younger 
favorites  had  supplanted  him  in  her  regard.  By 
long  intimacy  he  knew  the  molles  aditus  et  tempora  * 
when  things  might  be  said  without  offence  which 
were  not  acceptable  at  the  council-board.  The  other 
ministers  were  glad  to  use  him  for  this  purpose. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  his  appointment  to 
the  command  in  the  l^etherlands  was  meant  as  the 
most  decisive  indication  that  could  be  given  of  Eliz- 

*  "Favorable  approaches  and  times"  :  i.e.,  he  knew  how 
and  when  things  might  be  said  to  Elizabeth  without  offence. 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS :  1584-86.  211 

abeth's  determination  to  face  open  war  with  Philip 
rather  than  allow  him  to  establish  absolute  govern- 
ment in  that  country. 

Since  the  deaths  of  Alen^on  and  William  of  Orange 
the  United  Provinces  had  been  without  a  ruler.  The 
government  had  been  provisionally  carried  on  by 
the  "  States,"  or  deputies  from  each  province.  Lei- 
cester had  come  with  no  other  title  than  that  of 
Lieutenant- General  of  the  Queen's  troops.  But  what 
the  States  wanted  was  not  so  much  a  military  leader 
as  a  sovereign  ruler.  They  therefore  urged  Leicester 
to  accept  the  powers  and  title  of  Govern  or- General, 
the  office  which  had  been  held  by  the  representatives 
of  Philip.  From  this  it  would  follow,  both  logically 
and  practically,  that  Elizabeth  herself  stood  in  the 
place  of  Philip — in  other  words,  that  she  was  com- 
mitted to  the  sovereignty  which  she  had  so  peremp- 
toril}^  refused. 

The  offer  was  accepted  by  Leicester  almost  imme- 
diately after  his  arrival  (Jan.  14-24, 1586).  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  a  preconcerted  plan  be- 
tween the  States  and  Elizabeth's  ministers,  who  had 
all  along  supported  the  Dutch  proposals.  Leicester, 
we  know,  had  contemplated  it  before  leaving  Eng- 
land. Davison,  who  was  in  Holland,  hurried  it  on,  and 
undertook  to  carry  the  news  to  Elizabeth.  Burghley 
and  Walsingham  maintained  that  the  step  had  been 


212  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

absolutely  necessary,  and  implored  her  not  to  undo  it. 
Elizabeth  herself  had  suspected  that  something  of 
the  sort  would  be  attempted,  and  had  strictly  enjoin- 
ed Leicester  at  his  departure  to  accept  no  sach  title. 
It  was  not  that  she  wished  his  powers — that  is  to 
say,  her  own  powers — to  be  circumscribed.  On  the 
contrary,  she  desired  that  they  should  in  practice 
be  as  large  and  absolute  as  possible.  What  she  ob- 
jected to  was  the  title,  with  all  the  consequences  it  in- 
volved. And  what  enraged  her  most  of  all  was  the 
attempt  of  her  servants  to  push  the  thing  through 
behind  her  back,  on  the  calculation  that  she  would 
be  obliged  to  accept  the  accomplished  fact.  Her 
wrath  vented  itself  on  all  concerned,  on  her  minis- 
ters, on  the  States,  and  on  Leicester.  To  the  latter 
she  addressed  a  characteristic  letter : — 

"2b  my  Lord  of  Leicester  from  the  Queen  by  Sir  Thomas 
Heneage. 

"  How  contemptuously  we  conceive  ourself  to  have  been 
used  by  you,  you  shall  by  this  bearer  understand,  whom  we 
have  expressly  sent  unto  you  to  charge  you  withal.  We 
could  never  have  imagined,  had  we  not  seen  it  fall  out  in  ex- 
perience, that  a  man  raised  up  by  ourself  and  extraordinarily 
favored  by  us  above  any  other  subject  of  this  land,  would 
have  in  so  contemptible  [contemptuous]  a  sort,  broken  our 
commandment,  in  a  cause  that  so  greatly  toucheth  us  in  hon- 
or ;  whereof  although  you  have  showed  yourself  to  make  but 
little  account,  in  most  undutiful  a  sort,  you  may  not  therefore 
think  that  we  have  so  little  care  of  the  reparation  thereof  as 
we  mind  to  pass  so  great  a  wrong  in  silence  unredressed. 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS :  1584-86.    ^13 

And  therefore  our  express  pleasure  and  command  is  that,  all 
delays  and  excuses  laid  apart,  you  do  presently,  on  the  duty 
of  your  allegiance,  obey  and  fulfil  whatsoever  the  bearer 
hereof  shall  direct  you  to  do  in  our  name.  Whereof  fail  not, 
as  you  will  answer  the  contrary  at  your  uttermost  peril. 

Nor  were  these  cutting  reproaches  reserved  for 
his  private  perusal.  She  severely  rebuked  the  States 
for  encouraging  "  a  creature  of  her  own  "  to  disobey 
her  injunctions,  and,  as  a  reparation  from  them  and 
from  him,  she  required  that  he  should  make  a  public 
resignation  of  the  government  in  the  place  where  he 
had  accepted  it. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Elizabeth  should 
think  the  vindication  of  her  outraged  authority  to 
be  the  most  pressing  requirement  of  the  moment. 
But  the  result  was  unfortunate  for  the  object  of  the 
expedition.  The  States  had  conferred  "  absolute " 
authority  upon  Leicester,  and  would  have  thought  it 
a  cheap  price  to  pay  if,  by  their  adroit  manoeuvre, 
they  had  succeeded  in  forcing  the  Queen's  hand. 
But  they  did  not  care  to  intrust  absolute  powers  to 
a  mere  general  of  an  English  contingent.  After 
long  discussion,  Elizabeth  was  at  length  persuaded 
that  the  least  of  evils  was  to  allow  him  to  retain  the 
title  which  the  States  had  conferred  on  him  (June, 
1586).  But  in  the  meantime  they  had  repented  of 
their  haste  in  letting  power  go  out  of  their  own 
hands.     Their  efforts  were  thenceforth  directed  to 


214  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

explain  away  the  term  "  absolute."  The  long  dis- 
pleasure of  the  Queen  had  destroyed  the  principal 
value  of  Leicester  in  their  eyes.  He  himself  had 
soon  incurred  their  dislike.  Impetuous  and  domi- 
neering, he  could  not  endure  opposition.  Every  man 
who  did  not  fall  in  with  his  plans  was  a  malicious 
enemy,  a  traitor,  a  tool  of  Parma,  who  ought  to  be 
hanged.  He  still  enjoyed  the  favor  of  the  demo- 
cratic and  bigoted  Calvinist  party,  especially  in 
Utrecht,  and  he  tried  to  play  them  off  against  the 
States,  thereby  promoting  the  rise  of  the  factions 
which  long  afterwards  distracted  the  United  Prov- 
inces. The  displeasure  of  the  Queen  had  taken  the 
shape  of  not  sending  him  money,  and  his  troops 
were  in  great  distress  and  unable  to  move.  More- 
over, rumors  of  the  secret  peace  negotiations  were 
craftily  spread  by  Parma,  who,  knowing  well  that 
they  would  come  to  nothing,  turned  them  to  the 
best  account  by  leading  the  States  to  suspect  that 
they  were  being  betrayed  to  Spain. 

Elizabeth  had  sent  her  army  abroad  more  as  a 
warning  to  Philip  than  with  a  view  to  active  opera- 
tions. It  was  no  part  of  her  plan  to  recover  any  of 
the  territory  already  conquered  by  Parma,  even  if  it 
had  lain  in  her  power.  She  knew  that  the  majority 
of  its  inhabitants  were  Catholics  and  royalists.  She 
knew  also  that  Parma's  attenuated  army  was  consid- 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  :  1584-86.    215 

erably  outnumbered  by  the  Anglo-Dutch  forces,  and 
that  he  was  in  dire  distress  for  food  and  money. 
The  recovered  provinces  were  completely  ruined  by 
the  war.  Their  commerce  was  swept  from  the  sea. 
The  mouths  of  their  great  rivers  were  blockaded. 
The  Protestants  of  Flanders  and  Brabant  had  largely 
migrated  to  the  unsubdued  provinces,  whose  pros- 
perity, notwithstanding  the  burdens  of  war,  was 
advancing  by  leaps  and  bounds.  Their  population 
was  about  two  millions.  That  of  England  itself  was 
little  more  than  four.  Religion  was  no  longer  the 
only  or  the  chief  motive  of  their  resistance.  For 
even  the  Catholics  among  them,  who  were  still  very 
numerous — some  said  a  majority — keenly  relished 
the  material  prosperity  which  had  grown  with  in- 
dependence. Encouraged  by  English  protection, 
the  States  were  in  no  humor  to  listen  to  compromise, 
But  a  compromise  was  what  Elizabeth  desired.  She 
was  therefore  not  unwilling  that  her  forces  should 
be  confined  to  an  attitude  of  observation,  till  it 
should  appear  whether  her  open  intervention  would 
extract  from  Philip  such  concessions  as  she  deemed 
reasonable. 

Leicester  was  eager  to  get  to  work,  and  he  was 
warmly  supported  by  Walsingham.  Burghley's 
conduct  was  less  straightforward.  He  had  long 
found  it  advisable  to   cultivate  amicable  relations 


216  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

with  the  favorite.  He  had  probably  concurred  in 
the  plan  for  making  him  Governor-General.  Even 
now  he  was  professing  to  take  his  part.  In  reality 
he  was  not  sorry  to  see  him  under  a  cloud  ;  and 
though  he  sympathized  as  much  as  ever  with  the 
Dutch,  he  cared  more  for  crippling  his  rival.  Hence 
his  activity  in  those  obscure  peace  negotiations  which 
he  so  carefully  concealed  from  Leicester  and  Wal- 
singham.  To  keep  Walsingham  long  in  the  dark, 
on  that  or  any  other  subject,  was  indeed  impossible. 
It  was  found  necessary  at  last  to  let  him  be  present 
at  an  interview  with  the  agents  employed  by  Burgh- 
ley  and  Parma,  which  brought  their  backstairs  diplo- 
macy to  an  abrupt  conclusion.  "  They  that  have 
been  the  employers  of  them,"  he  wrote  to  Leicester, 
"  are  ashamed  of  the  matter."  The  negotiations 
went  on  through  other  channels,  but  never  made 
any  serious  progress. 

To  compel  Philip  to  listen  to  a  compromise,  with- 
out at  the  same  time  emboldening  the  Dutch  to  turn 
a  deaf  ear  to  it — such  was  the  problem  which  Eliza- 
beth had  set  herself.  She  therefore  preferred  to 
apply  pressure  in  other  quarters.  Towards  the  end 
of  1685,  Drake  appeared  on  the  coast  of  Spain 
itself,  and  plundered  Yigo.  Then  crossing  the 
Atlantic,  he  sacked  and  burned  St.  Domingo  and 
Carthagena.    Again  in    1587,  he    forced   his  way 


PROTECTORATE  OF  THE  NETHERLANDS  :  1584-86.    217 

into  Cadiz  harbor,  burnt  all  the  shipping  and  the 
stores  collected  for  the  Armada,  and  for  two  months 
plundered  and  destroyed  every  vessel  he  met  off  the 
coast  of  Portugal. 

Philip  had  so  long  and  so  tamely  submitted  to 
the  many  injuries  and  indignities  which  Elizabeth 
heaped  upon  him,  that  it  is  not  wonderful  if  she  had 
come  to  think  that  he  would  never  pluck  up  courage 
to  retaliate.  This  time  she  was  wrong.  The  con- 
quest of  England  had  always  had  its  place  in  his 
overloaded  programme.  But  it  was  to  be  in  that 
hazy  ever-receding  future,  when  he  should  have 
put  down  the  Dutch  rebellion  and  neutralized  France. 
Elizabeth's  open  intervention  in  the  Netherlands 
at  length  induced  him  to  change  his  plan.  Eng- 
land, he  now  decided,  must  be  first  dealt  with. 

In  the  meantime,  Parma's  operations  in  the  Nether- 
lands were  starved  quite  as  much  as  Leicester's. 
Plundering  excursions,  two  or  three  petty  combats 
not  deserving  the  name  of  battles,  half-a-dozen  small 
towns  captured  on  one  side  or  the  other — such  is  the 
military  record  from  the  date  of  Elizabeth's  interven- 
tion to  the  arrival  of  the  Armada.  Parma  had  some- 
what the  best  of  this  work,  such  as  it  was.  But  the 
war  in  the  Netherlands  was  practically  stagnant. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  year  of  Leicester's  govern- 
ment, events  of  the  highest  importance  obliged  him 


218  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

to  pay  a  visit  to  England  (Nov.,  1586).  The  Queen 
of  Scots  had  been  found  guilty  of  conspiring  to  as- 
sassinate Elizabeth,  and  Parliament  had  been  sum- 
moned to  decide  upon  her  fate. 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS :  1584-87.     219 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

EXECUTION   OF  THE   QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  :    1584-1587. 

Theogmorton's  plot — of  which  the  Queen  of  Scots 
was  undoubtedly  cognizant,  though  it  was  not 
pressed  against  her — brought  home  to  every  one  the 
danger  in  which  Elizabeth  stood  (1584).  To  the 
Catholic  conspiracy,  the  temptation  to  take  her  life 
was  enormous.  It  was  becoming  clear  that,  while 
she  lived,  the  much  talked  of  insurrection  would 
never  come  off.  The  large  majority  of  Catholics 
would  have  nothing  to  do  with  it — still  less  with 
foreign  invasion.  They  would  obey  their  lawful 
sovereign.  But'  if  once  Elizabeth  were  dead,  by 
whatever  means,  their  lawful  sovereign  would  be 
Mary.  The  rebels  would  be  the  Protestants,  if  they 
should  try  to  place  any  one  else  on  the  throne.  The 
Protestants  had  no  organization.  They  had  no  can- 
didate for  the  crown  ready.  It  was  to  be  feared 
that  no  great  noble  would  step  forward  to  lead  them. 
Burghley  himself,  though  longing  as  much  as  ever 


220  QUEEN  ELIZAIjETH. 

for  Mary's  head,  had  with  a  prudent  eye  to  all  event- 
ualities, contrived  some  time  before  to  persuade  her 
that  he  was  her  well-wisher.  Houses  of  Commons, 
it  is  true,  had  shown  themselves  strongly  and  in- 
creasingly Protestant.  But  with  the  demise  of  the 
crown.  Parliament,  if  in  being  at  the  time,  would  be 
ipso  facto  dissolved.  The  Privy  Council,  in  like 
manner,  would  cease  to  have  any  legal  existence. 
Burghley,  Walsingham,  and  the  other  new  men  of 
whom  it  was  mostly  composed,  had  no  power  or 
weight,  except  as  instruments  of  the  sovereign.  Her 
death  would  leave  them  helpless.  The  country 
would  take  its  direction  not  from  them,  but  from 
the  great  nobles  of  large  ancestral  possessions.  JS'or 
could  they  provide  for  such  an  emergency  by  privately 
selecting  a  Protestant  successor  beforehand,  and 
privately  organizing  their  partisans.  It  would  have 
been  as  much  as  their  lives  were  worth  if  their 
mistress  had  caught  them  doing  anything  of  the 
kind. 

In  this  dilemma  an  ingenious  plan  suggested  itself 
to  them.  They  drew  up  a  "  Bond  of  Association," 
by  which  the  subscribers  engaged  that,  if  the  Queen 
were  murdered,  they  would  never  accept  as  successor 
any  one  "  by  whom  or  for  whom  "  such  act  should 
be  committed,  but  would  "  prosecute  such  person  to 
death." 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  :  1584-87.     221 

This  was  a  hypothetical  way  of  excluding  Mary 
and  organizing  a  Protestant  resistance  to  which 
Elizabeth  could  make  no  objection.  But  the  min- 
isters knew  that,  as  a  merely  voluntary  association 
without  Parliamentary  sanction,  it  would  add  little 
strength  or  confidence  to  the  Protestant  party.  It 
would  not  even  test  their  numbers ;  for  no  Marian 
ventured  to  refuse  the  oath.  Mary  herself  desired 
to  be  allowed  to  take  it.  The  bond  was  therefore 
converted  into  a  Statute  by  Parliament,  though  not 
without  some  important  alterations  (March,  1585). 
It  was  enacted  that  if  the  realm  was  invaded,  or  a 
rebellion  instigated,  by  or  for  any  one  pretending  a 
title  to  the  succession,  or  if  the  Queen's  murder  was 
plotted  by  any  one,  or  with  the  privity  of  any  one  that 
pretended  title,  such  pretender,  after  examination 
and  judgment  by  an  extraordinar}'^  commission  to  be 
nominated  by  the  Queen,  and  consisting  of  at  least 
twenty-four  privy  councillors  and  lords  of  Parlia- 
ment assisted  by  the  chief  judges,  should  be  excluded 
from  the  succession,  and  that,  on  proclamation  of 
the  sentence  and  direction  by  the  Queen,  all  sub- 
jects might  and  should  pursue  the  offender  to  death. 
If  the  Queen  were  murdered,  the  lords  of  the  Coun- 
cil at  the  time  of  her  death,  or  the  majority  of 
them,  should  join  to  themselves  at  least  twelve 
other  lords  of  Parliament  not  making  title  to  the 


222  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

crown,  and  the  chief  judges;  and  if,  after  examina- 
tion, they  should  come  to  the  above-mentioned  con- 
clusion, they  should  without  delay,  by  all  forcible 
and  possible  means,  prosecute  the  guilty  persons  to 
death,  and  should  have  power  to  raise  and  use  such 
forces  as  should  in  that  behalf  be  needful  and  con- 
venient ;  and  no  subjects  should  be  liable  to  punish- 
ment for  anything  done  according  to  the  tenor  of 
the  Statute. 

Here,  then,  was  a  legal  way  provided  by  which 
the  Protestant  ministers  might  act  against  Mary 
if  Elizabeth  were  murdered.  They  were  in  fact 
created  a  Provisional  Government,  wath  power  to 
exclude  Mary  from  the  throne.  Whether  they 
would  have  the  courage  or  strength  to  do  so  re- 
mained to  be  seen ;  but  they  would  at  least  have 
formal  law  on  their  side. 

It  had  never  entered  into  Mary's  plans  to  w^ait  for 
Elizabeth's  natural  death.  She  therefore  read  the 
new  Act  as  a  sentence  of  exclusion.  Another  blow 
soon  fell  on  her.  In  1584,  elated  by  her  son's  victory 
over  the  raiders  of  Ruthven,  and  believing  that  he 
was  willing  to  recognize  her  joint  sovereignty  and 
co-operate  with  a  Guise  invasion,  she  had  scornfully 
refused  the  last  overtures  that  Elizabeth  ever  made 
to  her.  She  now  learnt  that  he  had  never  intended 
to  accept  association  with   her,  and  that  he  had 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  :  1584-87.     223 

urged  Elizabeth  not  to  release  her.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  had  accepted  an  annual  pension  of  £4000 
with  some  grumbling  at  its  amount;  and  a  defen- 
sive alliance  was  at  length  concluded  between  the 
two  countries,  Mary's  name  not  being  mentioned  in 
the  treaty  (July,  1586). 

As  the  prospects  of  the  Scottish  Queen  became 
darker  both  in  England  and  her  own  country,  she 
grew  more  desperate  and  reckless.  Early  in  1586, 
"Walsingham  contrived  a  way  of  regularly  inspect- 
ing all  her  most  secret  correspondence.  He  soon 
discovered  that  she  was  encouraging  Babington's 
plot  for  assassinating  Elizabeth.*  Some  of  the  con- 
spirators, though  avowed  Catholics,  had  offices  in 
the  royal  household ;  such  was  Elizabeth's  easy-go- 

*  Antony  Babington  was  born  of  an  old  Catholic  family  at 
Dethick,  Derbyshire,  in  1561.  Young,  handsome,  rich,  left  an 
orphan  at  ten  years  of  age,  he  had  served  for  a  short  time  as  page 
to  Queen  Mary  of  Scotland,  then  a  prisoner  at  Sheffield,  when 
in  1586,  some  seven  years  after  his  marriage,  he  was  induced 
by  Ballard  and  other  Catholic  emissaries  to  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  conspiracy  that  had  for  its  object  Elizabeth's 
murder  and  Mary's  release.  Babington  reserved  the  deliver- 
ance of  Mary  for  his  own  share,  entered  into  correspondence 
with  her,  and  received  from  her  letters  approving  of  the  as- 
sassination. The  plot  was  betrayed,  and  after  hiding  in  the 
depths  of  St.  John's  Wood  and  at  Harrow,  he  was  taken  and, 
with  thirteen  others,  condemned  to  die.  His  prayers  for 
mercy,  his  explanation  of  the  cipher  letters,  were  all  in  vain, 
and  on  the  20th  of  September,  1586,  he  followed  Ballard  to  the 
scaffold,"— C/iam&ers's  Enoyc. 


224  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

ing  confidence.  It  was  hoped  that  Parma  would  at 
the  moment  of  the  murder  land  troops  on  the  east 
coast.  Mendoza,  now  Spanish  ambassador  in  Paris, 
warmly  encouraged  the  project. 

The  Scottish  Queen  was  now  in  the  case  contem- 
plated by  the  Statute  of  the  previous  year.  But  it 
required  all  the  urgency  of  the  Council  to  prevail 
with  Elizabeth  to  have  her  brought  to  trial.  Eliza- 
beth's whole  conduct  shows  that  she  would  even  now 
have  preferred  to  deal  with  her  rival  as  she  did  in 
the  inquiry  into  the  Darnley  murder.  She  would 
have  been  content  to  discredit  her,  to  expose  her 
guilt,  and,  if  possible,  to  bring  her  to  her  knees  con- 
fessing her  crimes  and  pleading  for  mercy.  But 
Mary  was  not  of  the  temper  to  confess.  Humiliation 
and  effacement  were  to  her  worse  than  death.  She 
chose  to  brazen  it  out  w4th  a  well-grounded  con- 
fidence that,  as  long  as  she  asserted  her  innocence, 
people  would  always  be  found  to  believe  in  it,  let 
the  evidence  be  what  it  would.  Besides,  long  im- 
punity had  convinced  her  that  Elizabeth  did  not 
dare  to  take  her  life. 

There  was  nothing  for  it,  therefore,  but  to  bring 
her  to  trial.  A  Special  Commission  was  nominated 
under  the  provisions  of  the  Statute  of  1585,  consist- 
ing of  forty-five  persons — peers,  privy  councillors, 
and  judges — who  proceeded  to  Fotheringay  Castle, 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  :  1584-87.     225 

whither  Mary  had  been  removed.*  She  at  first  re- 
fused their  jurisdiction ;  but  on  being  informed  that 
they  would  proceed  in  her  absence,  she  appeared 
before  them  under  protest  (October  14,  1586). 
After  sitting  at  Fotheringay  for  two  days,  the  Court 
adjourned  to  Westminster,  where  it  pronounced  her 
guilty  (October  25).f  A  declaration  was  added  that 
her  disqualification  for  the  succession,  which  fol- 
lowed by  the  Statute,  did  not  affect  any  rights  that 
her  son  might  possess.  The  verdict  was  immediately 
known;  but  its  proclamation  was  deferred  till 
Parliament  could  be  consulted. 

A  general  election  had  been  held  while  the  trial 
was  going  on,  and  Parliament  met  four  days  after 
its  conclusion  (October  29).  The  whole  evidence 
was  gone  into  afresh.  Not  a  word  seems  to  have 
been  said  in  Mary's  favor  ;  and  an  address  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Queen  praying  for  execution.  If  pre- 
cedents were  wanted  for  the  capital  punishment  of 
an  anointed  sovereign,  there  were  the  cases  of  Agag, 
Jezebel,  Athaliah,  Deiotarus,  king  of  Galatia,  put  to 
death  by  Julius  Caesar,  Phescuporis,  king  of  Thrace, 

*  Some  persons  whose  names  do  not  appear  in  the  Commis- 
sion sat  on  the  trial,  while  some  who  were  appointed  did  not 
sit. 

f  Those  who  wish  to  know  the  grounds  on  which  Mary's 
complicity  in  Babington's  plot  has  been  denied  can  consult 
Lingard,  Tytler,  and  Labanoff.  In  my  opinion,  their  argu- 
ments are  very  feeble. 


226  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

by  Tiberius,  and  Conradin  by  Charles  of  Anjou.  In 
vain  did  Elizabeth  request  them  to  reconsider  their 
vote,  and  devise  some  other  expedient.  Usually  so 
deferential  to  her  suggestions,  they  reiterated  their 
declaration  that  "  the  Queen's  safety  could  no  way 
be  secured  as  long  as  the  Queen  of  Scots  lived." 

Elizabeth's  hesitation  has  been  generally  set  down 
to  hypocrisy.  It  has  been  taken  for  granted  that 
she  desired  Mary's  death,  and  was  glad  to  have  it 
pressed  upon  her  by  her  subjects.  I  believe  that  her 
reluctance  was  most  genuine.  If  not  of  generous 
disposition,  neither  was  she  revengeful  or  cruel.  She 
had  no  animosity  against  her  enemies.  She  lacked 
gall.  She  was  never  in  any  hurry  to  punish  the 
disaffected,  or  even  to  weed  them  out  of  her  service. 
She  rather  prided  herself  on  employing  them  even 
about  her  person.  Since  her  accession  only  two 
English  peers  had  been  put  to  death,  though  several 
had  richly  deserved  it.  She  could  affirm  with  per- 
fect truth  that,  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  she,  and 
she  alone,  had  stood  between  Mary  and  the  scaffold, 
and  this  at  great  and  increasing  risk  to  her  own  life. 
There  had,  perhaps,  been  a  time  when  to  destroy  the 
prospect  of  a  Catholic  succession  would  have  driven 
the  Catholics  into  rebellion.  But  that  time  had  long 
gone  by,  as  every  one  knew.  Elizabeth  had  only 
two  dangers  now  to  fear,  invasion  and  assassination, 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  :  1584-87.     227 

the  latter  being  the  most  threatening.  There  would 
be  little  inducement  to  attempt  it  if  Mary  were  not 
alive  to  profit  by  it.  Yet  Elizabeth  hesitated.  The 
explanation  of  her  reluctance  is  very  simple.  She 
flinched  from  the  obloquy,  the  undeserved  obloquy, 
which  she  saw  was  in  store  for  her.  Careless  to  an 
extraordinary  degree  about  her  personal  danger,  she 
would  have  preferred,  as  far  as  she  was  herself  con- 
cerned, to  let  Mary  live.  It  was  her  ministers  and 
the  Protestant  party  who,  for  their  own  interest, 
were  forcing  her  to  shed  her  cousin's  blood  ;  and  it 
seemed  to  her  unfair  that  the  undivided  odium 
should  fall,  as  she  foresaw  it  would  fall,  on  her 
alone. 

The  suspense  continued  through  December  and 
January.  In  the  meantime  it  became  abundantly 
clear  that  no  foreign  court  would  interfere  actively 
to  save  Mary's  life.  While  she  had  been  growing 
old  in  captivity,  new  interests  had  sprung  up,  fresh 
schemes  had  been  formed  in  which  she  had  no  place. 
She  stood  in  the  way  of  half-a-dozen  ambitions. 
Everybody  was  weary  of  her  and  her  wrongs  and  her 
pretensions.  The  Pope  had  felt  less  interest  of  late 
in  a  princess  whose  rights,  if  established,  would  pass 
to  a  Protestant  heir.  Philip  could  not  intercede 
for  her,  even  if  he  had  desired  to  save  her  life.  He 
was  already  at  war  with  England,  and,  if  she  had 


228  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

known  it,  not  with  any  intention  of  supporting  her 
claims.*  James  by  his  recent  treaty  with  England 
had  tacitly  treated  his  mother  as  an  enemy.  Her 
scheme  for  kidnapping  and  disinheriting  him,  found 
among  her  papers  at  Chartley,  had  been  promptly 
communicated  to  him.  Decency  required  that  he 
should  make  a  show  of  remonstrance  and  menace. 
But  he  had  every  reason  to  desire  her  death,  and 
his  only  thought  was  to  use  the  opportunity  for  ex- 
torting from  Elizabeth  a  recognition  of  his  title  to 
the  English  crown  and  an  increase  of  his  pension. 
He  sent  the  Master  of  Gray  to  drive  this  bargain. 
The  very  choice  of  his  envoy,  the  man  who  had 
persuaded  him  to  break  with  his  mother,  showed 
Elizabeth  how  the  land  lay,  and  she  did  not  think  it 
worth  her  while  to  bribe  him  in  either  way.  The 
Marian  nobles  blustered  and  called  for  war.  INot 
one  of  them  wanted  to  see  Mary  back  in  Scotland 
or  cared  what  became  of  her ;  but  they  had  got  an 
idea  that  Philip  would  pay  them  for  a  plundering 
raid  into  England,  and  the  doubly  lucrative  prospect 
was  irresistible.  James,  however,  though  pretend- 
ing resentment  and  really  sulky  at  his  rebuff,  knew 
his  own  interests  too  well  to  quarrel  with  England. 
What  the  action  of  the  French  King  was  is  less 
certain.  Openly  he  remonstrated  with  considerable 
*  There  was  no  formal  proclamation  of  war  on  either  side. 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  :  1584-87.     229 

vigor  and  persistence ;  not  entering  into  the  ques- 
tion of  Mary's  guilt,  but  protesting  against  the 
punishment  of  a  Queen  and  a  member  of  his  family. 
Probably  his  efforts,  so  far  as  they  went,  were 
sincere,  for  he  instructed  his  ambassador  to  bribe 
the  English  ministers  if  possible  to  save  her  life. 
But  it  was  evident  that,  however  offended  Henry 
III.  might  be  by  the  execution  of  his  sister-in-law, 
he  would  not  be  provoked  into  playing  the  game  of 
Spain. 

A  warrant  for  the  execution  had  been  drawn  soon 
after  the  adjournment  of  Parliament,  and  all  through 
December  and  January  Elizabeth's  ministers  kept 
urging  her  to  sign  it.  At  length,  when  the  Scotch 
and  French  ambassadors  were  gone,  and  with  them 
the  last  excuse  for  delay,  she  signed  it  in  the  presence 
of  Davison  (who  had  lately  been  made  co-secretary 
with  "Walsingham),  and  directed  him  to  have  it  sealed. 
(February  1).  What  else  passed  between  them  on 
that  occasion  must  always  remain  uncertain,  because 
Davison's  four  written  statements,  and  his  answers 
at  his  trial,  differ  in  important  particulars  not  only 
from  the  Queen's  account  but  from  one  another.  So 
much,  however,  will  to  most  persons  who  examine 
the  evidence  be  very  clear.  Elizabeth  meant  the 
execution  to  take  place.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt 
Davison's  statement  that  she  "  forbade  him  to  trouble 


230  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

her  any  further,  or  let  her  hear  any  more  thereof 
till  it  was  done,  seeing  that  for  her  part  she  had  now 
performed  all  that  either  in  law  or  reason  could  be 
required  of  her."  But  signing  the  warrant,  as  both 
of  them  knew,  was  not  enough.  The  formal  delivery 
of  it  to  some  person,  with  direction  to  carry  it  out, 
was  the  final  step  necessary.  This,  by  Davison's 
own  admission,  the  Queen  managed  to  evade.  He 
saw  that  she  wished  to  thrust  the  responsibility  upon 
him  and  Walsingham,  and  he  suspected  that  she 
meant  to  disavow  them.  Although,  therefore,  she 
enjoined  strict  secrecy,  he  laid  the  matter  before 
Hatton  and  Burghley. 

Burghley  assembled  in  his  own  room  the  Earls  of 
Derby  and  Leicester,  Lords  Howard  of  Effingham, 
Hundson,  and  Cobham,  Knollys,  Hatton,  Walsing- 
ham,  and  Davison  (February  3).  These  ten  were 
probably  the  only  privy  councillors  then  at  Green- 
wich.* He  laid  before  them  Davison's  statement 
of  what  had  passed  between  the  Queen  and  himself 
at  both  interviews.  He  said  that  she  had  done  as 
much  as  could  be  expected  of  her;  that  she  evi- 
dently wished  her  ministers  to  take  whatever  re- 

*  The  remaining  Privy  Councillors  were  Archbishop  Whit- 
gift,  Lord  Chancellor  Bromley,  the  Earls  of  Shrewsbury  and 
Warwick,  Lord  Buckhurst,  Sir  James  Crofts,  Sir  Ralph  Sadler, 
Sir  Walter  Mildmay,  Sir  Amyas  Paulet,  and  the  Latin  Secre- 
tary, WoUey. 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  :  1584-87.     231 

sponsibility  remained  upon  themselves  without  in- 
forming her ;  and  that  they  ought  to  do  so.  His 
proposal  was  agreed  to.  A  letter  was  written  to 
the  Earls  of  Kent  and  Shrewsbury  instructing  them 
to  carry  out  the  execution.  This  letter  all  the  ten 
signed,  and  it  was  at  once  despatched  along  with  the 
warrant.  They  quite  understood  that  Elizabeth 
would  disavow  them.  They  saw  that  she  wished  to 
have  a  pretext  for  saying  that  Mary  had  been  put  to 
death  without  her  knowledge,  and  before  she  had 
finally  made  up  her  mind.  They  were  willing  to 
furnish  her  with  this  pretext.  Of  course  there 
would  be  more  or  less  of  a  storm  to  keep  up  the 
make-believe.  But  ten  privy  councillors  acting  to- 
gether could  not  well  be  punished. 

On  Thursday  (February  9)  the  news  of  the  execu- 
tion arrived.  Elizabeth  now  learnt  for  the  first  time 
that  the  responsibility  which  she  had  intended  to  fix 
on  the  two  secretaries,  one  a  nobody  and  the  other 
no  favorite,  had  been  shared  by  eight  others  of  the 
Council,  including  all  its  most  important  members. 
Storm  at  them  she  might  and  did,  and  all  the  more 
furiously  because  they  had  combined  for  self-pro- 
tection. But  to  punish  the  whole  ten  was  out  of 
the  question.  Yet  if  no  one  were  punished,  with 
what  face  could  she  tender  her  improbable  explana- 
tion to  foreign  courts  ?    The  unlucky  Davison  was 


232  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

singled  out.  He  could  be  charged  with  divulging 
what  he  had  been  ordered  to  keep  secret  and  mis- 
leading the  others.  He  was  tried  before  a  Special 
Commission,  fined  10,000  marks,*  and  imprisoned 
for  some  time  in  the  Tower.  The  fine  was  rigidly 
exacted,  and  it  reduced  him  to  poverty.  Burghley, 
whose  tool  he  had  been  almost  as  much  as  Eliza- 
beth's, took  pains  to  make  his  disgrace  permanent, 
because  he  wanted  the  secretaryship  for  his  son, 
Robert  Cecil. 

The  strange  thing  is,  that  Elizabeth  not  only  ex- 
pected her  transparent  falsehoods  to  be  formally  ac- 
cepted as  satisfactory,  but  hoped  that  they  would  be 
really  believed.  Her  letter  to  James  was  an  insult 
to  his  understanding.  "  I  would  you  knew  (though 
not  felt)  the  extreme  dolor  that  overwhelms  my 
mind,  for  that  miserable  accident  which  (far  con- 
trary to  my  meaning)  hath  befallen.  .  .  .  I  be- 
seech you  that  as  God  and  many  more  know  how 
innocent  I  am  in  this  case,  so  you  will  believe  me 
that  if  1  had  bid  [bidden]  ought  I  would  have  bid 
[abided]  by  it.  .  .  .  Thus  assuring  yourself  of  me 
that  as  I  know  this  [the  execution]  was  deserved, 
yet  if  I  had  meant  it  1  would  never  lay  it  on  others' 
shoulders,  no  more  will  I  not  damnify  myself  that 
thought  it  not." 

*The  English  mark  was  worth  $3.23. 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  :  1584-87.     233 

Little  as  James  cared  what  became  of  his  mother, 
it  was  impossible  that  he  should  not  feel  humiliated 
when  he  was  expected  to  swallow  such  a  pill  as  this 
— and  ungilded  too.  He  had  no  intention  of  going 
to  war  with  the  country  of  which  he  might  now  at 
any  moment  become  the  legitimate  King.  But  to  let 
Elizabeth  see  that  unless  he  was  paid  he  could  be 
disagreeable,  he  winked  at  raids  across  the  border 
and  coquetted  with  the  faction  who  were  inviting 
Philip  to  send  a  Spanish  army  to  Scotland.  It  was 
but  a  passing  display  of  temper.  The  end  of  the  year 
(1587)  saw  him  again  drawing  close  to  Elizabeth,  and 
she  was  able  to  give  her  undivided  attention  to  the 
coming  Armada. 

It  cannot  be  seriously  maintained  that  because 
Mary  was  not  an  English  subject  she  could  not  be 
lawfully  tried  and  punished  for  crimes  committed  in 
England.  Those,  if  any  there  now  be,  who  adopt  her 
own  contention  that,  being  an  anointed  Queen,  she 
was  not  amenable  to  any  earthly  tribunal,  but  to 
God  alone,  are  beyond  the  reach  of  earthly  argu- 
ment. The  English  government  had  a  right  to  de- 
tain her  as  a  dangerous  public  enemy.  She,  on  the 
other  hand  had  a  right  to  resist  such  restraint  if  she 
could,  and  she  might  have  carried  conspiracy  very 
far  without  incurring  our  blame.  But  for  good 
reasons  we  draw  a  line  at  conspiracy  to  murder.     No 


234  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

government  ever  did  or  will  let  it  pass  unpunished. 
If  I^apoleon  at  St.  Helena  had  engaged  in  conspir- 
acies for  seizing  the  island,  no  one  could  have  blamed 
him,  even  though  they  might  have  involved  blood- 
shed. But  if  he  had  been  convicted  of  plotting  the 
assassination  of  Sir  Hudson  Lowe,  he  would  as- 
suredly have  been  hanged. 

That  the  execution  was  a  wise  and  opportune 
stroke  of  policy  can  hardly  be  disputed.  It  broke 
up  the  Catholic  party  in  England  at  the  moment 
when  their  disaffection  was  about  to  be  tempted  by 
the  appearance  of  the  Armada.  There  had  been  a 
time  when  they  had  hopes  of  James.  But  he  was 
now  known  to  be  a  stiff  Protestant.  Only  the 
small  Jesuitical  faction  was  prepared  to  accept 
Philip  either  as  an  heir  of  John  of  Gaunt  or  as 
Mary's  legatee.  There  was  no  other  Catholic  with 
a  shadow  of  a  claim.  The  bulk  of  the  party  there- 
fore ceased  to  look  forward  to  a  restoration  of  the 
old  religion,  and  rallied  to  the  cause  of  national  in- 
dependence. 

NOTE  ON  PAULETS  ALLEGED  REFUSAL  TO  MURDER 
MARY. 

I  have  not  alluded  in  the  text  to  the  story,  generally  repeated 
by  historians,  that  Elizabeth  urged  Paulet  and  Drury  to 
murder  Mary  privately.  There  is  no  doubt  that,  after  the 
signature  of  the  warrant,  Walsingham  and  Davison,  by  Eliz- 
abeth's direction,  urged  Paulet  ^nd  Prur^  to  put  Mary  to  death, 


EXECUTION  OF  THE  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS  :  1584-87.     235 

and  that  they  refused.  But  was  it  a  private  murder  that  was 
meant  or  a  public  execution  without  delivery  of  the  warrant  ? 
There  is  nothing  in  any  of  Davison's  statements  inconsistent 
with  the  latter  and  far  more  probable  explanation.  The 
blacker  charge  is  founded  solely  on  the  two  letters  which  are 
generally  accepted  as  being  those  which  passed  between  the 
secretaries  and  Paulet,  but  which  may  be  confidently  set  down 
as  impudent  forgeries.  They  were  first  given  to  the  world  in 
1732  by  Dr.  George  Mackenzie,  a  violent  Marian,  who  says 
that  a  copy  of  them  was  sent  him  by  Mr.  Urry  of  Christ 
Church,  Oxford,  and  that  they  had  been  found  among  Paulet's 
papers.  Two  years  later  they  were  printed  by  Hearne,  an 
Oxford  Jacobite  and  Nonjuror,  who  says  he  got  them  from  a 
copy  furnished  him  by  a  friend  unnamed  (Urry  ?  ) ,  who  told 
him  he  had  copied  them  in  1717  from  a  MS.  letter-book  of 
Paulet's.  There  is  also  a  MS.  copy  in  the  Harleian  collection, 
which  contains  erasures  and  emendations — an  extraordinary 
thing  in  a  copy.  It  is  said  to  be  in  the  handwriting  of  the 
Earl  of  Oxford  himself.  There  is  nothing  to  show  whence  he 
copied  it. 

No  one  has  ever  seen  the  originals  of  these  letters.  Neither 
has  any  one,  except  Hearne's  unnamed  friend,  seen  the  "  letter- 
book  "  into  which  Paulet  is  supposed  to  have  copied  them. 
Where  had  this  "  letter-book  "  been  before  1717  ?  Where  was 
it  in  1717  ?  What  became  of  it  after  1717  ?  To  none  of  these 
questions  is  there  any  answer.  The  most  rational  conclusion 
is  that  the  '*  letter-book  "  never  existed,  and  .that  the  letters 
were  fabricated  in  the  reign  of  George  I.  by  some  Oxford  Ja- 
cobite, who  thought  it  easier  and  more  prudent  to  circulate 
copies  than  to  attempt  an  imitation  of  Paulet's  well-known 
handwriting,  with  all  the  other  difficulties  involved  in  forg- 
ing a  manuscript. 

But  it  may  be  said.  Do  not  the  letters  fit  in  with  Davison's 
narrative  ?  Of  course  they  do.  It  was  for  the  very  purpose  of 
putting  an  odious  meaning  on  that  narrative  that  they  were 
fabricated.  It  was  known  that  letters  about  putting  Mary  to 
death  had  passed.  The  real  letters  had  never  been  seen,  and 
had  doubtless  been  destroyed.  Here  therefore  was  a  fine 
opportunity  for  manufacturing  spurious  ones. 


236  QUEEN  ELIZABETH, 


CHAPTEK  X. 

WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603. 

Elizabeth  is  not  seen  at  her  best  in  war.  She  did 
not  easily  resign  herself  to  its  sacrifices.  It  fright- 
ened her  to  see  the  money  which  she  had  painfully 
put  together,  pound  by  pound,  during  so  many 
years,  by  many  a  small  economy,  draining  out  at 
the  rate  of  £17,000  a  month  into  the  bottomless  pit 
of  military  expenditure.  When  Leicester  came  back 
she  simply  stopped  all  remittances  to  the  Netherlands, 
making  sure  that  if  she  did  not  feed  her  soldiers  some 
one  else  would  have  to  do  it.  She  saw  that  Parma 
was  not  pressing  forward.  And  though  rumors  of 
the  enormous  preparations  in  Spain,  which  accounted 
for  his  inactivity,  continued  to  pour  in,  she  still  hoped 
that  her  intervention  in  the  IS'etherlands  was  bend- 
ing Philip  to  concessions.  All  this  time  Parma  was 
steadily  carrying  out  his  master's  plans  for  the  in- 
vasion. His  little  army  was  to  be  trebled  in  the 
autumn  by  reinforcements  principally  from  Italy. 
In  the  meantime  he  was  collecting  a  flotilla  of  flat- 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  237 

bottomed  boats.  As  soon  as  the  Armada  should 
appear  they  were  to  make  the  passage  under  its 
protection. 

It  would  answer  no  useful  purpose,  even  if  my 
limits  permitted  it,  to  enter  into  the  particulars  of 
Elizabeth's  policy  towards  the  United  Provinces 
during  the  twelve  months  that  preceded  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Armada.  Her  proceedings  were 
often  tortuous,  and  by  setting  them  forth  in  minute 
detail  her  detractors  have  not  found  it  difficult  to 
represent  them  as  treacherous.  But,  living  three 
centuries  later,  what  have  we  to  consider  but  the 
general  scope  and  drift  of  her  policy  ?  Looking  at 
it  as  a  whole  we  shall  find  that,  whether  we  approve 
of  it  or  not,  it  was  simple,  consistent,  and  undis- 
guised. She  had  no  intention  of  abandoning  the 
Provinces  to  Philip,  still  less  of  betraying  them.  But 
she  did  wish  them  to  return  to  their  allegiance,  if 
she  could  procure  for  them  proper  guarantees  for 
such  liberties  as  they  had  been  satisfied  with  before 
Philip's  tyranny  began.  If  Philip  had  been  wise 
he  would  have  made  those  concessions.  Elizabeth  is 
not  to  be  over-much  blamed  if  she  clung  too  long 
to  the  belief  that  he  could  be  persuaded  or  compelled 
to  do  what  was  so  much  for  his  own  interest.  If 
she  was  deceived  so  was  Burghley.  Walsingham  is 
entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  from  first  to  last 


238  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

refused  to  believe  that  the  negotiations  were  any- 
thing but  a  blind. 

Though  Elizabeth  desired  peace,  she  did  not  cease 
to  deal  blows  at  Philip.  In  the  spring  of  1587 
(April -June),  while  she  was  most  earnestly  pushing 
her  negotiations  with  Parma,  she  despatched  Drake 
on  a  new  expedition  to  the  Spanish  coast.  He 
forced  his  way  into  the  harbors  of  Cadiz  and  Co- 
runna,*  destroyed  many  ships  and  immense  stores, 
and  came  back  loaded  with  plunder.  The  Armada 
had  not  been  crippled,  for  most  of  the  ships  that 
were  to  compose  it  were  lying  in  the  Tagus.f  But 
the-  concentration  had  been  delayed.  Fresh  stores 
had  to  be  collected.  Drake  calculated,  and  as  it 
proved  rightly,  that  another  season  at  least  would 

*  *'  Early  in  1587  he  set  sail  with  a  strong  squadron  to  cripple 
the  king  of  Spain  in  his  own  seas,  and  retard  his  preparations 
for  invasion — a  sport  which  he  called  '  singeing  the  king  of 
Spain's  beard.'  Sailing  right  into  the  harbor  of  Cadiz,  he 
sank  or  burned  as  many  as  thirty-three  ships,  and  made  his 
way  out  unscathed."    Chambers's  Encyc. 

It  was  two  years  later,  April  21,  1589,  that  Drake,  who 
"  refused  to  be  shackled  by  instructions,  sailed  directly  to  the 
harbor  of  Corunna.  Several  sail  of  merchantmen  and  ships  of 
war  fell  into  his  hands  ;  the  fisherman's  town,  or  suburb,  was 
taken ;  and  the  magazines,  stored  with  oil  and  wine,  became 
the  reward  of  the  conquerors.  But  it  was  in  vain  that  a  breach 
was  made  in  the  wall  of  the  place  itself,  every  assault  was  re- 
pulsed, and  three  hundred  men  perished  by  the  unexpected 
fall  of  a  tower."    Lingard,  vi :  540, 

f  Near  Lisbon, 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  239 

be  consumed  in  repairing  the  loss,  and  that  England, 
for  that  summer  and  autumn,  could  rest  secure  of 
invasion. 

The  delay  was  most  unwelcome  to  Philip.  The 
expense  of  keeping  such  a  fleet  and  army  on  foot 
through  the  winter  would  be  enormous.  Spain  was 
maintaining  not  only  the  Armada,  but  the  army  of 
Farma  ;  for  the  resources  of  the  Netherlands,  which 
had  been  the  true  El  Dorado  of  the  Spanish  mon- 
archy, were  completely  dried  up.  So  impatient  was 
Philip — usually  the  slowest  of  men — that  he  pro- 
posed to  despatch  the  Armada  even  in  September, 
and  actually  wrote  to  Parma  that  he  might  expect 
it  at  any  moment.  But,  as  Drake  had  calculated, 
September  was  gone  before  everything  was  ready. 
The  naval  experts  protested  against  the  rashness  of 
facing  the  autumnal  gales,  with  no  friendly  harbor 
on  either  side  of  the  Channel  in  which  to  take  re- 
fuge. Philip  then  made  the  absurd  suggestion  that 
the  army  from  the  ^Netherlands  should  cross  by  it- 
self in  its  flat-bottomed  boats.  But  Parma  told 
him  that  it  was  absolutely  out  of  the  question. 
Four  English  ships  could  sink  the  whole  flotilla. 
In  the  meantime  his  soldiers,  waiting  on  the  Dun- 
kirk Downs  *  and  exposed  to  the  severities  of  the 

*  On  the  northern  coast  of  France,  about  twenty-five  miles 
east  of  Calais,  and  nearly  opposite  the  English  coast. 


240  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

weather,  were  dying  off  like  flies.  Philip  and 
Elizabeth  resembled  one  another  in  this,  that  neither 
of  them  had  any  personal  experience  of  war  either 
by  land  or  sea.  For  a  queen  this  was  natural.  For 
a  king  it  was  unnatural,  and  for  an  ambitious  king 
unprecedented.  They  did  not  understand  the  proper 
adaptation  of  means  to  ends.  Yet  it  was  necessary 
to  obtain  their  sanction  before  anything  could  be 
done.  Hence  there  was  much  mismanagement  on 
both  sides.  Still  England  was  in  no  real  danger 
during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1587,  because 
Philip's  preparations  were  not  completed ;  and  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  year  the  English  fleet  was  lying 
in  the  Channel.  But  the  Queen  grudged  the  ex- 
pense of  keeping  the  crews  up  to  their  full  comple- 
ment. The  supply  of  provisions  and  ammunition 
was  also  very  inadequate.  The  expensiveness  of 
war  is  generally  a  sufficient  reason  for  not  going  to 
war ;  but  to  attempt  to  do  war  cheaply  is  always 
unwise.  "Sparing  and  war,"  as  Effingham  ob- 
served, "  have  no  affinity  together." 

Drake  strongly  urged  that,  instead  of  trying  to 
guard  the  Channel,  the  English  fleet  should  make  for 
the  coast  of  Spain,  and  boldly  assail  the  Armada  as 
soon  as  it  put  to  sea.  This  was  the  advice  of  a  man 
who  had  all  the  shining  qualities  of  I^elson,  and  seems 
to  have  been  in  no  respect  his  inferior.    It  was  no 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  241 

counsel  of  desperation.  He  was  confident  of  success. 
Lord  Howard  of  Effingham,  the  Admiral,  was  of  the 
same  opinion.  The  negotiations  were  odious  to  him. 
For  Burghley,  who  clings  to  them,  he  has  no  more 
reverence  than  Hamlet  had  for  Polonius.  "  Since 
England  was  England,"  he  writes  to  Walsingham, 
"  there  was  never  such  a  stratagem  and  mask  to 
deceive  her  as  this  treaty  of  peace.  I  pray  God  that 
we  do  not  curse  for  this  a  long  gray  beard  with  a 
white  head  witless,  that  will  make  all  the  world  think 
us  heartless.     You  know  whom  I  mean." 

With  the  hopes  and  fears  of  these  sea-heroes,  it  is 
instructive  to  compare  the  forecast  of  the  great  soldier 
who  was  to  conduct  the  invasion.  Always  obedient 
and  devoted  to  his  sovereign,  Parma  played  his  part 
in  the  deceptive  negotiations  with  consummate  skill. 
But  his  own  opinion  was  that  it  would  be  wise  to 
negotiate  in  good  faith  and  accept  the  English  terms. 
Though  prepared  to  undertake  the  invasion,  he  took 
a  very  serious  view  of  the  risks  to  be  encountered. 
He  tells  Philip  that  the  English  preparations  are 
formidable  both  by  land  and  sea.  Even  if  the  passage 
should  be  safely  accomplished,  disembarkation  would 
be  difficult.  His  army,  reduced  by  the  hardships  of 
the  winter  from  30,000  men,  which  he  had  estimated 
as  the  proper  number,  to  less  than  17,000,  was  dan- 
gerously small  for  the  work  expected  of  it.   He  would 


24:2  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

have  to  fight  battle  after  battle,  and  the  further  he 
advanced  the  weaker  would  his  army  become  both 
from  losses  and  from  the  necessity  of  protecting  his 
communications. 

Parma  had  carefully  informed  himself  of  the  prep- 
arations in  England.  From  the  beginning  of  Eliza- 
beth's reign,  attention  had  been  paid  to  the  organiza- 
tion, training,  and  equipment  of  the  militia,  and 
especially  since  the  relations  with  Spain  had  become 
more  hostile.  On  paper  it  seems  to  have  amounted 
to  117,000  men.  Mobilization  was  a  local  business. 
Sir  John  Norris  drew  up  the  plan  of  defence.  Beacon 
fires  did  the  work  of  the  telegraph.  Every  man 
knew  whither  he  was  to  repair  when  their  blaze 
should  be  seen.  The  districts  to  be  abandoned,  the 
positions  to  be  defended,  the  bridges  to  be  broken, 
were  all  marked  out.  Three  armies,  calculated  to 
amount  in  the  aggregate  to  73,000  men  were  ordered 
to  assemble  in  July.  Whether  so  many  were  actually 
mustered  is  doubtful.  But  Parma  would  certainly 
have  found  himself  confronted  by  forces  vastly 
superior  in  numbers  to  his  own,  and  would  have  had, 
as  he  said,  to  fight  battle  after  battle.  The  bow  had 
not  been  entirely  abandoned,  but  the  greater  part  of 
the  archers — two- thirds  in  some  counties — had  lately 
been  armed  with  calivers."^    What  was  wanting  in 

*  The  caliver  was  a  sixteenth  century  gun,  lighter    thau 


WAR  WITH  SI>AIN  :  ISS-T-ieOS.  243 

discipline  would  have  been  to  some  extent  made  up 
by  the  spontaneous  cohesion  of  a  force  organized 
under  its  natural  leaders,  the  nobles  and  gentry  of 
each  locality,  not  a  few  of  whom  had  seen  service 
abroad.  But,  after  all,  the  greatest  element  of 
strength  was  the  free  spirit  of  the  people.  England 
was,  and  had  long  been,  a  nation  of  freemen.  There 
were  a  few  peers,  and  a  great  many  knights  and 
gentlemen.  But  there  was  no  noble  caste,  as  on 
the  Continent,  separated  by  an  impassable  barrier 
of  birth  and  privilege  from  the  mass  of  the  people. 
All  felt  themselves  fellow-countrymen  bound  to- 
gether by  common  sentiments,  common  interests, 
and  mutual  respect. 

This  spirit  of  freedom — one  might  almost  say  of 
equality — made  itself  felt  still  more  in  the  navy,  and 
goes  far  to  account  for  the  cheerful  energy  and  dash 
with  which  every  service  was  performed.  "  The 
English  officers  lived  on  terms  of  sympathy  with  their 
men  unknown  to  the  Spaniards,  who  raised  between 
the  commander  and  the  commanded  absurd  barriers 
of  rank  and  blood  which  forbade  to  his  pride  any 
labor  but  that  of  fighting.  Drake  touched  the  true 
mainspring  of  English  success  when  he  once  (in  his 
voyage  round  the  world)  indignantly  rebuked  some 

the  musket  of  that  day,  one  specific  advantage  of  it  being 
that  it  could  be  fired  without  a  rest. 


^U  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

coxcomb  gentlemen-adventurers  with,  '  I  should  like 
to  see  the  gentleman  that  will  refuse  to  set  his  hand 
to  a  rope.  I  must  have  the  gentlemen  to  hale  and 
draw  with  the  mariners.' "  *  Drake,  Hawkins,  Fro- 
bisher  were  all  born  of  humble  parents.  They  rose 
by  their  own  valor  and  capacity.  They  had  gentle- 
men of  birth  serving  under  them.  To  Howard  and 
Cumberland  and  Seymour  they  were  brothers-in- 
arms. The  master  of  every  little  trading  vessel  was 
fired  by  their  example,  and  hoped  to  climb  as  high. 
It  is  the  pleasure  of  some  writers  to  speak  of  Eliza- 
beth's naval  preparations  as  disgracefully  insufiicient, 
and  to  treat  the  triumphant  result  as  a  sort  of  mir- 
acle. To  their  apprehension,  indeed,  her  whole  reign 
is  one  long  interference  by  Providence  with  the  ordi- 
nary relations  of  cause  and  effect.  The  number  of 
royal  ships  as  compared  with  those  of  private  owners 
in  the  fleet  which  met  the  great  Armada — 34  to  161 
— is  represented  as  discreditably  small.  By  English- 
men of  that  day,  it  was  considered  to  be  creditably 
large.  Sir  Edward  Coke  (who  was  thirty-eight  at 
the  time  of  the  Armada),  writing  under  Charles  I., 
when  the  royal  navy  was  much  larger,  says  :  "  In 
the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  (I  being  then  ac- 
quainted with  this  business)  there  were  thirty-three 
[royal  ships]  besides  pinnaces,  which  so  guarded  and 
*  Kingsley,  Westward  Ho, 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  24S 

* 

regarded  the  navigation  of  the  merchants,  as  they 
had  safe  vent  for  their  commodities,  and  trade  and 
traffic  flourished."  * 

It  seems  to  be  overlooked  that  the  royal  navy, 
such  as  it  was,  was  almost  the  creation  of  Elizabeth. 
Her  father  was  the  first  English  king  who  made  any 
attempt  to  keep  a  standing  navy  of  his  own.  He 
established  the  Admiralty  and  the  first  royal  dock- 
yard. Under  Edward  and  Mary  the  navy,  like 
everything  else,  went  to  ruin.  Elizabeth's  ship-build- 
ing, humble  as  it  seems  to  us,  excited  the  admiration 
of  her  subjects,  and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  chief 
advances  of  her  reign.  The  ships,  when  not  in  com- 
mission, were  kept  in  the  Medway.f  The  Queen 
personally  paid  the  greatest  attention  to  them.  They 
were  always  kept  in  excellent  condition,  and  could 
be  fitted  out  for  sea  at  very  short  notice.  Economy 
was  enforced  in  this,  as  in  other  departments,  but 
not  at  the  expense  of  efficiency.  The  wages  of  officers 
and  men  were  very  much  augmented;  but  in  the 
short  periods  for  which  crews  were  enlisted,  and  in 
the  victualling,  there  seems  to  have  been  unwise  par- 
simony in  1588.  The  grumbling  of  alarmists  about 
unprepared ness,  apathy,  stinginess,  and  red-tape  was 

*  Institutes,  Fourth  Part,  Chap  I., 

t  The  Medway  river  enters  the  Thames  from  the  south  near 
the  mouth  of  the  latter.  The  harbor  is  excellent,  and  in  this 
place  the  fleet  defended  London. 


246  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

precisely  what  it  is  in  our  own  day.     We  know  that 
some  allowance  is  to  be  made  for  it. 

The  movements  of  the  Armada  were  perfectly  well 
known  in  England,  and  all  the  dispositions  to  meet 
it  at  sea  were  completed  in  a  leisurely  manner.  Con- 
ferences were  still  going  on  at  Ostend  between  Eng- 
lish and  Spanish  commissioners.  On  the  part  of 
Elizabeth  there  was  sincerity,  but  not  blind  credulity 
nor  any  disposition  to  make  unworthy  concessions. 
Conferences  quite  as  protracted  have  often  been  held 
between  belligerents  while  hostilities  were  being  ac- 
tively carried  on.  The  large  majority  of  English- 
men were  resolved  to  fight  to  the  death  against  any 
invader.  But,  as  against  Spain,  there  was  not  that 
eager  pugnacity  which  a  war  with  France  always 
called  forth,  except,  perhaps,  among  the  sea-rovers ; 
and  even  they  would  have  contented  themselves,  if 
it  had  been  possible,  with  the  unrecognized  privateer- 
ing which  had  so  long  given  them  the  profits  of  war 
with  the  immunities  of  peace.  The  rest  of  the  nation 
respected  their  Queen  for  her  persevering  endeavor 
to  find  a  way  of  reconciliation  with  an  ancient  ally, 
and  to  limit,  in  the  meantime,  the  area  of  hostilities. 
They  were  confident,  and  with  good  reason,  that  she 
would  surrender  no  important  interest,  and  that  ag- 
gressive designs  would  be  met,  as  they  had  always 
been  met,  more  than  half-way. 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  247 

The  story  of  the  great  victory  is  too  well  known 
to  need  repetition  here.*  But  some  comments  are 
necessary.  It  is  usual,  for  one  reason  or  other,  to 
exaggerate  the  disparity  of  the  opposing  fleets,  and 
to  represent  England  as  only  saved  from  impending 
ruin  by  the  extraordinary  daring  of  her  seamen,  and 
a  series  of  fortunate  accidents.  The  final  destruction 
of  the  Armada,  after  the  pursuit  was  over,  was  cer- 
tainly the  work  of  wind  and  sea.  But  if  we  fairly 
weigh  the  available  strength  on  each  side,  we  shall 
see  that  the  English  commanders  might  from  the 
first  feel,  as  they  did  feel,  a  reasonable  assurance  of 
defeating  the  invaders. 

Let  us  first  compare  the  strength  of  the  fleets : 


English. 
Royal 
Private 

Ships. 
34 
163 

197 
132 

Tonnage. 

11850 

17894 

Guns. 
837 
not  stated 

3165 

Mariners. 
6279 
9506 

Spanish 

29744 
59120 

15785 
8766 

The  Armada  carried  besides  21,855  soldiers.f 
The  first  thing  that  strikes  us  is  the  immense  pre- 
ponderance in  tonnage  on  the  part  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  in  sailors  on  the  part  of  the  English.     This 

*  Good  descriptions  of  the  defeat  of  the  Armada  may  be 
found  in  various  histories,  those  by  Motley  ( United  Nether- 
lands, ii :  465 — 529)  and  Froude  (History  of  England,  xii :  444- 
553.)  A  spirited  description  may  also  be  found  in  Westward 
Ho  !  by  Charles  Kingsley. 

f  These  figures  are  taken  from  Barrow's  Life  of  Drake. 


248  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

really  goes  far  to  explain  the  result.  Nothing  is 
more  certain  than  that  the  Spanish  ships,  notwith- 
standing their  superior  size,  were  for  fighting  and 
sailing  purposes  very  inferior  to  the  English.  It  had 
always  been  believed  that,  to  withstand  the  heavy 
seas  of  the  Atlantic,  a  ship  should  be  constructed 
like  a  lofty  fortress.  The  English  builders  were 
introducing  lower  and  longer  hulls  and  a  greater 
spread  of  canvas.  Their  crews,  as  has  always  been 
the  case  in  our  navy,  were  equally  handy  as  sailors 
and  gunners.  The  Spanish  ships  were  under- 
manned. The  soldiers  were  not  accustomed  to  work 
the  guns,  and  were  of  no  use  unless  it  came  to  board- 
ing, which  Howard  ordered  his  captains  to  avoid. 
The  English  guns,  if  fewer  than  the  Spanish,  were 
heavier  and  worked  by  more  practised  men.*  Their 
balls  not  only  cut  up  the  rigging  of  the  Spaniards 
but  tore  their  hulls  (which  were  supposed  to  be  can- 
non-proof), while  the  English  ships  were  hardly 
touched.  The  slaughter  among  the  wretched 
soldiers  crowded  between  decks  was  terrible.  Blood 
was  seen  pouring  out  of  the  lee-scuppers.  "  The 
English  ships,"  says  a  Spanish  oiScer,  "  were  under 
such  good  management  that  they  did   with  them 

*  We  hear  of  thirty-three-pounders  and  even  sixty-pounders 
in  the  Queen's  ships.  Whereas  the  Spanish  admiral,  sending 
to  Parma  for  balls,  asks  for  nothing  heavier  than  ten  pounds. 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  249 

what  they  pleased."  The  work  was  done  almost 
entirely  by  the  Queen's  ships.  "  If  you  had  seen," 
says  Sir  William  Winter,  "  the  simple  service  done 
by  the  merchants  and  coast  ships,  you  would  have 
said  we  had  been  little  helped  by  them,  otherwise 
than  that  they  did  make  a  show." 

The   principal  and   final   battle   was   fought  off 
Gravelines    (July   29- August    8).       The     Armada 
therefore  did  arrive  at  its  destination,  but  only  to 
show  that  the  general  plan  of  the  invasion  was  an 
impracticable  one.     The  superiority  in  tonnage  and 
number  of  guns  on  the  morning  of  that  day,  though 
not  what  it  had  been  when  the  fighting  began  a 
week  before,   was  still  immense,  if  superiority  in 
those  particulars  had  been  of  any  use.     But  with 
this  battle  the  plan  of  Philip  was  finally  shattered. 
So  far  from  being  in  a  condition  to  cover  Parma's 
passage,  the  Spanish  admiral  was  glad  to  escape  as 
best  he  could  from  the  English  pursuit. 

During  the  eight  days'  fight,  be  it  observed,  the 
Armada  had  experienced  no  unfavorable  weather 
or  other  stroke  of  ill-fortune.  The  wind  had  been 
mostly  in  the  west,  and  not  tempestuous.  After 
the  last  battle,  when  the  crippled  Spanish  ships 
were  drifting  upon  the  Dutch  shoals,  it  opportunely 
shifted,  and  enabled  them  to  escape  into  the  North 
Sea, 


250  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  find  any  great  naval  en- 
gagement in  which  the  victors  suffered  so  little.  In 
the  last  battle,  when  they  came  to  close  quarters, 
they  had  about  sixty  killed.  During  the  first  seven 
days  their  loss  seems  to  have  been  almost  nil.  One 
vessel  only — not  belonging  to  the  Queen — became 
entangled  among  the  enemy,  and  succumbed.  Ex- 
cept the  master  of  this  vessel  not  one  of  the  captains 
was  killed  from  first  to  last.  Many  men  of  rank 
were  serving  in  the  fleet.  It  is  not  mentioned  that 
one  of  them  was  so  much  as  wounded. 

Looking  at  all  these  facts,  we  can  surely  come  to 
only  one  conclusion.  Philip's  plan  was  hopeless 
from  the  first.  Barring  accidents,  the  English  were 
bound  to  win.  On  no  other  occasion  in  our  history 
was  our  country  so  well  prepared  to  meet  her 
enemies,  l^ever  was  her  safety  from  invasion  so 
amply  guaranteed.  The  defeat  of  the  Great 
Armada  was  the  deserved  and  crowning  triumph  of 
thirty  years  of  good  government  at  home  and  wise 
policy  abroad ;  of  careful  provision  for  defence  and 
sober  abstinence  from  adventure  and  aggression. 

Of  the  land  preparations  it  is  impossible  to  speak 
with  equal  confidence,  as  they  were  never  put  to 
the  test.  If  the  Spaniards  had  landed,  Leicester's 
militia  would  no  doubt  have  experienced  a  bloody 
defeat.    London  might  have  been  taken  and  plun- 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  251 

dered.  But  Parma  himself  never  expected  to  become 
master  of  the  country  without  the  aid  of  a  great 
Catholic  rising.  This,  we  may  affirm  with  confi- 
dence, would  not  have  taken  place  on  even  the 
smallest  scale.  Overwhelming  forces  would  soon 
have  gathered  round  the  Spaniards.  They  would 
probably  have  retired  to  the  coast,  and  there  fortified 
some  place  from  which  it  would  have  been  difficult 
to  dislodge  them  as  long  as  they  retained  the  com- 
mand of  the  sea. 

Such  seems  to  have  been  the  utmost  success  which, 
in  the  most  favorable  event,  could  have  attended  the 
invasion.  A  great  disaster,  no  doubt,  for  England, 
and  one  for  which  Elizabeth  would  have  been 
judged  by  history  with  more  severity  than  justice; 
for  Englishmen  have  always  chosen  to  risk  it,  down 
to  our  own  time.*  No  government  w^hich  insisted 
on  making  adequate  provision  for  the  military  de- 
fence of  the  country  would  have  been  tolerated 
then,  or,  to  all  appearance,  would  be  tolerated  now. 
"We  have  always  trusted  to  our  navy.  It  were  to  be 
wished  that  our  naval  superiority  were  as  assured 
now  as  when  we  defeated  the  Armada. 

*  The  Earl  Sussex,  after  inspecting  the  preparations  for 
defence  in  Hampshire  towards  the  end  of  1587,  writes  to  the 
Council  that  he  had  found  nothing  ready.  The  "  better 
sort "  said,  "  We  are  much  charged  many  ways,  and  when  the 
enemy  comes  we  will  provide  for  him ;  but  he  will  not  come 
yet." 


252  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

The  arrangements  for  feeding  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  were  very  defective.  A  praiseworthy  system 
of  control  had  been  introduced  to  check  waste  and 
peculation  in  time  of  peace.  Of  course  it  did  not 
easily  adapt  itself  to  the  exigencies  of  war.  Military 
operations  are  sure  to  suffer  where  a  certain,  or  rather 
uncertain,  amount  of  waste  and  peculation  is  not 
risked.  We  have  not  forgotten  the  "  horrible  and 
heart-rending  "  sufferings  of  our  army  in  the  Crimea, 
which,  like  those  of  Elizabeth's  fleet,  had  to  be  re- 
lieved by  private  effort.  In  the  sixteenth  century 
the  lot  of  the  soldier  and  sailor  everywhere  was  want 
and  disease,  varied  at  intervals  by  plunder  and 
excess.  Philip's  soldiers  and  sailors  were  worse  off 
than  Elizabeth's,  though  he  grudged  no  money  for 
purposes  of  war. 

Those  who  profess  to  be  scandalized  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  Leicester  to  the  command  of  the  army 
should  point  out  what  fitter  choice  could  have  been 
made.  He  was  the  only  great  nobleman  with  any 
military  experience ;  and  to  suppose  that  any  one  but 
a  great  nobleman  could  have  been  appointed  to  such 
a  command  is  to  show  a  profound  ignorance  of  the 
ideas  of  the  time.  He  had  Sir  John  Norris,  a  really 
able  soldier,  as  his  marshal  of  the  camp.  After  all, 
no  one  has  alleged  that  he  did  not  do  his  duty  with 
energy  and  intelligence.    The  story  that  the  Queen 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  253 

thought  of  making  him  her  '*  Lieutenant  in  the 
government  of  England  and  Ireland,"  but  was  dis- 
suaded from  it  by  Burghley  and  Hatton,  rests  on  no 
authority  but  that  of  Camden,  who  is  fond  of  repeat- 
ing spiteful  gossip  about  Leicester.  No  sensible 
person  will  believe  that  she  meant  to  create  a  sort 
of  Grand  Yizier.  She  may  have  thought  of  making 
him  what  we  should  call  *•  Commander-in-chief." 
There  would  be  much  to  say  for  such  a  concentra- 
tion of  authority  while  the  kingdom  was  threatened 
with  invasion.  The  title  of  "  Lieutenant "  was  a 
purely  military  one,  and  began  to  be  applied  under 
the  Tudors  to  the  commanders  of  the  militia  in  each 
county.  Leicester's  title  for  the  time  was  "  Lieu- 
tenant and  Captain-General  of  the  Queen's  armies 
and  companies."  But  we  find  him  complaining  to 
Walsingham  that  the  patent  of  Hunsdon,  the  com- 
mander of  the  Midland  army,  gave  him  independent 
powers.  "  I  shall  have  wrong  if  he  absolutely  com- 
mand where  my  patent  doth  give  me  poAver.  You 
may  easily  conceive  what  absurd  dealings  are  likely 
to  fall  out  if  you,  allow  two  absolute  commanders" 
(28  July).  Camden's  story  is  probably  a  confused 
echo  of  this  dispute. 

Writers  who  are  loth  to  admit  that  the  trust,  the 
gratitude,  the  enthusiastic  loyalty  which  Elizabeth 
inspired  were  the  first  and  most  important  cause  of 


254  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

the  great  victory,  have  sought  to  belittle  the  grand- 
est moment  of  her  life  by  pointing  out  that  the 
famous  speech  at  Tilbury  was  made  after  the  battle 
of  Gravelines.  But  the  dispersal  of  the  Armada  by 
the  storm  of  August  5th  was  not  yet  known  in 
England.  Drake,  writing  on  the  8th  and  10th, 
thinks  that  it  is  gone  to  Denmark  to  refit,  and  begs 
the  Queen  not  to  diminish  any  of  her  forces.  The 
occasion  of  the  speech  on  the  10th  seems  to  have 
been  the  arrival  of  a  post  on  that  day,  while  the 
Queen  was  at  dinner  in  Leicester's  tent,  with  a  false 
alarm  that  Parma  had  embarked  all  his  forces,  and 
might  be  expected  in  England  immediately.  * 

But  the  Lieutenant- General  had  reached  the  end 
of  his  career.  Three  weeks  after  the  Tilbury  review 
he  died  of  "  a  continued  fever,"  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
six.  He  kept  Elizabeth's  regard  to  the  last,  because 
she  believed — and  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life, 
not  wrongly — in  his  fidelity  and  devotion.  There 
is  no  sign  that  she  at  any  time  valued  his  judgment 
or  suffered  him  to  sway  her  policy,  except  so  far  as 
he  was  the  mouthpiece  of  abler  advisers ;  nor  did 
she  ever  allow  his  enmities,  violent  as  they  were, 
to  prejudice  her  against  any  of  her  other  servants. 
His  fortune  was  no  doubt  much  above  his  deserts, 

*  Sir  Edward  Radcliffe  to  the  Earl  of  Sussex.—j&ZMs,  3d 
Series,  vol.  iii.  p.  142, 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  255 

and  he  has  paid  the  usual  penalty.  There  are  few 
personages  in  history  about  whom  so  much  malicious 
nonsense  has  been  written. 

"We  cannot  help  looking  on  England  as  placed  in 
a  quite  new  position  by  the  defeat  of  the  Armada — 
a  position  of  security  and  independence.  In  truth, 
what  was  changed  was  not  so  much  the  relative 
strength  of  England  and  Spain  as  the  opinion  of  it 
held  by  Englishmen  and  Spaniards,  and  indeed  by 
all  Europe.  The  loss  to  Philip  in  mere  ships,  men, 
and  treasure  was  no  doubt  considerable.  But  his 
inability  to  conquer  England  was  demonstrated 
rather  than  caused  by  the  destruction  of  the  Armada. 
Philip  himself  talked  loftily  about  "  placing  another 
fleet  upon  the  seas."  But  his  subjects  began  to  see 
that  defence,  not  conquest,  was  now  their  business 
— and  had  been  for  some  time  if  they  had  only 
known  it : 

Cervi,  luporum  praeda  rapacium, 
Sectamur  ultro  quos  opimus 
Fallere  et  effugere  est  triumphus.* 

*  From  Horace's  ode  Ad  Urbem : — 

('•  And  at  last  the  treacherous  Hannibal  said)  Moreover, 
we  go  in  pursuit  like  stags,  the  prey  of  rapacious  wolves,  to 
mislead  and  escape  which  is  a  rich  triumph." 

Here  Horace  is  trying  to  illustrate  the  invincibility  of  the 
Romans ;  and  he  gives  the  words  additional  significance  by 
putting  them  in  the  mouth  of  Hannibal ;  the  stags  being  the 
Parthagenians,  and  the  wolves  being  the  Romani^, 


256  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

Elizabeth's  attitude  to  Philip  underwent  a  marked 
change.  Till  then  she  had  been  unwilling  to  abandon 
the  hope  of  a  peaceful  settlement.  She  had  dealt 
him  not  a  few  stinging  blows,  but  always  with  a 
certain  restraint  and  forbearance,  because  they  were 
meant  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  him  to  reason. 
Thirty  years  of  patience  on  his  part  had  led  her  to 
believe  that  he  would  never  carry  retaliation  beyond 
assassination  plots.  At  last,  in  his  slow  way,  he  had 
gathered  up  all  his  strength  and  essayed  to  crush 
her.  Thenceforward  she  was  a  convert  to  Drake's 
doctrine  that  attack  was  the  surest  way  of  defence. 
She  had  still  good  reasons  for  devolving  this  work 
as  much  as  possible  on  the  private  enterprise  of  her 
subjects.  The  burden  fell  on  those  who  asked  noth- 
ing better  than  to  be  allowed  to  bear  it.  Thus  arose 
that  system,  or  rather  practice,  of  leaving  national 
work  to  be  executed  by  private  enterprise,  which  has 
had  so  much  to  do  with  the  building  up  of  the 
British  Empire.  Private  gain  has  been  the  main- 
spring of  action.  National  defence  and  aggrandize- 
ment have  been  almost  incidental  results.  With 
Elizabeth  herself  national  and  private  aims  could  not 
be  dissevered.  The  nation  and  she  had  but  one 
purse.  She  was  cheaply  defending  England,  and 
she  shared  in  the  plunder. 
The  favorite  cruising-ground  of  the  English  adven^ 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  257 

turers  was  off  the  Azores,  where  the  Spanish  treas- 
ure fleets  always  halted  for  fresh  water  and  pro- 
visions, on  their  way  to  Europe.  Some  of  these 
expeditions  were  on  a  large  scale.  But  they  were 
not  so  successful  or  profitable,  in  proportion  to  their 
size,  as  the  smaller  ventures  of  Drake  and  Hawkins 
earlier  in  the  reign.  The  Spaniards  were  every- 
where on  the  alert.  The  harbors  of  the  New  World, 
which  formerly  lay  in  careless  security,  were  put 
into  a  state  of  defence.  Treasure  fleets  made  their 
voyages  with  more  caution.  "  I^ot  a  grain  of  gold, 
silver,  or  pearl,  but  what  must  be  got  through  the 
fire. "     The  day  of  great  prizes  was  gone  by. 

Two  of  these  expeditions  are  distinguished  by  their 
importance.  The  first  was  a  joint-stock  venture  of 
Drake  and  Norris — the  foremost  sailor  and  the  fore- 
most soldier  among  Englishmen  of  that  day — in  the 
year  after  the  great  Armada  (April,  1589).  They 
and  some  private  backers  found  most  of  the  capital. 
The  Queen  contributed  six  royal  ships  and  £20,000. 
This  fleet  carried  no  less  than  11,000  soldiers,  for 
the  aim  was  to  wrest  Portugal  from  the  Spaniard 
and  set  up  Don  Antonio,  a  representative  of  the 
dethroned  dynasty.  Stopping  on  their  way  at  Co- 
runna,  they  took  the  lower  town,  destroyed  large 
stores,  and  defeated  in  the  field  a  much  superior 
force  marching  to  the  relief  of  the  place.    Norris 


258  QUEEN  ELIZABETH 

mined  and  breached  the  walls  of  the  upper  town ; 
but  the  storming  parties  having  been  repulsed  with 
great  loss,  the  army  re-embarked  and  pursued  its 
voyage.  Landing  at  Penich6,  Korris  marched  fifty 
miles  by  Yimiero  and  Torres  Yedras,  names  famous 
afterwards  in  the  military  annals  of  England,  and 
on  the  seventh  day  arrived  before  Lisbon.  But 
he  had  no  battering  train ;  for  Drake,  who  had 
brought  the  fleet  round  to  the  mouth  of  the  Tagus, 
judged  it  dangerous  to  enter  the  river.  lS[or  did 
the  Portuguese  rise,  as  had  been  hoped.  The  army 
therefore,  marching  through  the  suburbs  of  Lisbon, 
rejoined  the  fleet  at  Cascaes,  and  proceeded  to  Yigo. 
That  town  was  burnt,  and  the  surrounding  country 
plundered.  This  was  the  last  exploit  of  the  expe- 
dition. Great  loss  and  dishonor  had  been  inflicted 
on  Spain ;  but  no  less  than  half  of  the  soldiers  and 
sailors  had  perished  by  disease ;  and  the  booty, 
though  said  to  have  been  large,  was  a  disappoint- 
ment to  the  survivors. 

The  other  great  expedition  was  in  1596.  The 
capture  of  Calais  in  April  of  that  year  by  the  Span- 
iards, had  renewed  the  alarm  of  invasion,  and  it  was 
determined  to  meet  the  danger  at  a  distance  from 
home.  A  great  fleet,  with  6000  soldiers  on  board, 
commanded  by  Essex  and  Howard  of  Efiingham 
sailed  straight  to  Cadiz,  the  principal  port    and 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  259 

arsenal  of  Spain.  The  harbor  was  forced  by  the 
fleet,  the  town  and  castle  stormed  by  the  army, 
several  men-of-war  taken  or  destroyed,  a  large  mer- 
chant-fleet burnt,  together  with  an  immense  quantity 
of  stores  and  merchandise;  the  total  value  being 
estimated  at  twenty  millions  of  ducats.*  This  was 
by  far  the  heaviest  blow  inflicted  by  England  upon 
Spain  during  the  reign,  and  was  so  regarded  in 
Europe;  for  though  the  great  Armada  had  been 
signally  defeated  by  the  English  fleet,  its  subse- 
quent destruction  was  due  to  the  winds  and  waves. 
Essex  was  vehementl}'-  desirous  to  hold  Cadiz ;  but 
Efiingham  and  the  Council  of  War  appointed  by 
the  Queen  would  not  hear  of  it.  The  expedition 
accordingly  returned  home,  having  effectually  re- 
lieved England  from  the  fear  of  invasion.  The 
burning  of  Penzance  by  four  Spanish  galleys  (1595) 
was  not  much  to  set  against  these  great  successes. 

One  reason  for  the  comparative  impunity  with 
which  the  English  assailed  the  unwieldy  empire  of 
Philip  was  the  insane  pursuit  of  the  French  crown, 
to  which  he  devoted  all  his  resources  after  the  mur- 
der of  Henry  III.  In  1598,  with  one  foot  in  the 
grave,  and  no  longer  able  to  conceal  from  himself 
that,  with  the  exception  of  the  conquest  of  Portugal, 
all  the  ambitious  schemes  of  his  life  had  failed,  he 
*  The  ducat  was  an  Austrian  coin  valued  at  $3.28. 


260  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

was  fain  to  conclude  the  peace  of  Vervins  *  with 
Henry  lY.  Henry  was  ready  to  insist  that  England 
and  the  United  Provinces  should  be  comprehended  in 
the  treaty.  Philip  offered  terms  which  Elizabeth 
would  have  welcomed  ten  years  earlier.  He  pro- 
posed that  the  whole  of  the  Low  Countries  should  be 
constituted  a  separate  sovereignty  under  his  son- 
in-law  the  Archduke  Albert.  The  Dutch,  who  were 
prospering  in  war  as  well  as  in  trade,  scouted  the 
offer.  English  feeling  was  divided.  There  was  a 
war-party  headed  by  Essex  and  Kaleigh,  personally 
bitter  enemies,  but  both  athirst  for  glory,  conquest, 
and  empire,  believing  in  no  right  but  that  of  the 
strongest,  greedy  for  wealth,  and  disdaining  the 
slower,  more  laborious,  and  more  legitimate  modes 
of  acquiring  it.  They  were  tired  of  campaigning  it 
in  France  and  the  Low  Countries,  where  hard  knocks 
and  beggarly  plunder  were  all  that  a  soldier  had  to 
look  to.  They  proposed  to  carry  a  great  English 
army  across  the  Atlantic,  to  occupy  permanently 
the  isthmus  of  Panama,  and  from  that  central  posi- 
tion to  wrestle   with  the   Spaniard  for  the  trade 

*  The  treaty  of  Vervins,  between  Philip  II.  and  Henry  IV., 
was  signed  May  2,  1598,  immediately  after  the  Edict  of  Nantes 
which  secured  toleration  in  France  for  Protestants.  By  this 
treaty  Henry  IV.  broke  faith  with  Elizabeth,  but  he  secured 
for  his  country  an  honorable  peace  with  Spain  and  for  himself 
undisputed  kingship  over  France. 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  261 

and  plunder  of  the  New  World.  The  peace  party 
held  that  these  ambitious  schemes  would  bring  no 
profit  except  possibly  to  a  few  individuals ;  that 
the  treasur}^  would  be  exhausted  and  the  country 
irritated  by  taxation  and  the  pressing  of  soldiers ; 
that  to  re-establish  the  old  commercial  intercourse 
with  Spain  would  be  more  reputable  and  attended 
with  more  solid  advantage  to  the  nation  at  large ; 
and  finally,  that  the  English  arms  would  be  much 
better  employed  in  a  thorough  conquest  of  Ireland. 
These  were  the  views  of  Burghley  ;  and  they  were 
strongly  supported  by  Buckhurst,*  the  best  of  the 
younger  statesman  who  now  surrounded  Eliza- 
beth. 

Elizabeth  always  encouraged  her  ministers  to  speak 
their  minds  ;  but,  as  Buckhurst  said  on  this  occasion, 
"  when  they  have  done  their  extreme  duty  she  wills 
what  she  wills."  She  determined  to  maintain  the 
treaty  of  1585  with  the  Dutch ;  but  she  took  the  op 
portunity  of  getting  it  amended  in  such  a  way  as  to 
throw  upon  them  a  larger  share  of  the  expenses  of 
the  war,  and  to  provide  more  definitely  for  the 
ultimate  repayment  of  her  advances. 

*  Thomas  Sackville  (1536—1608)  an  English  poet,  was  for 
many  years  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the  second  genera- 
tion of  statesmen  of  the  Elizabethan  age.  He  was  created 
Lord  Buckhurst  in  1567,  and  Earl  of  Dorset  at  the  accession 
of  James  I. 


262  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

We  have  seen  that  three  years  before  the  Armada 
Elizabeth  had  lost  the  French  alliance,  which  had 
till  then  been  the  key-stone  of  her  policy.  Since 
then,  though  aware  that  Henry  III.  wished  her  well, 
and  that  he  would  thwart  the  Spanish  faction  as 
much  as  he  dared,  she  had  not  been  able  to  count  on 
him.  He  might  at  any  moment  be  pushed  by  Guise 
into  an  attack  on  England,  either  with  or  without  the 
concurrence  of  Spain.  The  accession,  therefore,  of 
Henry  I Y.  afforded  her  great  relief.  In  him  she  had 
a  sure  ally.  It  is  true  that,  like  her  other  allies  the 
Dutch,  he  was  more  in  a  condition  to  require  help 
than  to  afford  it.  But  the  more  work  she  provided 
for  Philip  in  Holland  or  France,  the  safer  England 
would  be.  The  armies  of  the  Holy  League  might  be 
formidable  to  Henry ;  but  as  long  as  he  could  hold 
them  at  bay  they  were  not  dangerous  to  England. 
She  had  never  quite  got  over  her  scruple  about  help- 
ing the  Dutch  against  their  lawful  sovereign.  But 
Henry  lY.  was  the  legitimate  King  of  France,  and 
she  could  heartily  aid  him  to  put  down  his  rebels. 
From  2000  to  5000  English  troops  were  therefore 
constantly  serving  in  France  down  to  the  peace  of 
Yervins.* 

Philip,  in  defiance  of  the  Salic  law,  claimed  the 
crown  of  France  for  his  daughter  in  right  of  her 
*  May  3,  1598. 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  263 

mother,  who  was  a  sister  of  Henry  III.  To  Brittany- 
he  alleged  that  she  had  a  special  claim,  as  being  de- 
scended from  Anne  of  Brittany,  which  the  Bourbons 
were  not.  Brittany,  therefore,  he  invaded  at  once 
by  sea.  Elizabeth,  alarmed  by  the  proximity  of  this 
Spanish  force,  desired  that  her  troops  in  France 
should  be  employed  in  expelling  it,  and  that  they 
should  be  vigorously  supported  by  Henry  lY. 
Henry,  on  the  other  hand,  was  always  drawing  away 
the  English  to  serve  his  more  pressing  needs  in  other 
parts  of  France.  This  brought  upon  him  many  harsh 
rebukes  and  threats  from  the  English  Queen.  But 
she  had,  for  the  first  time,  met  her  match.  He  judged, 
and  rightly,  that  she  would  not  desert  him.  So,  with 
oft-repeated  apologies,  light  promises,  and  well- 
turned  compliments,  he  just  went  on  doing  what 
suited  him  best,  getting  all  the  fighting  he  could  out 
of  the  English,  and  airily  eluding  Elizabeth's  repeated 
demands  for  some  coast  town,  which  could  be  held, 
like  Brill  and  Flushing,  as  a  security  for  her  heavy 
subsidies. 

When  Henry  was  reconciled  to  the  Catholic 
Church,  Elizabeth  went  through  the  form  of  express- 
ing surprise  and  regret  at  a  step  which  she  must 
have  long  expected,  and  must  have  felt  to  be  wise 
(1593).  Her  alliance  with  Henry  was  not  shaken. 
It  was  drawn  even  closer  by  a  new  treaty,  each 


264  QtJEEN  ELIZABETH. 

sovereign  engaging  not  to  make  peace  without  the 
consent  of  the  other.  This  engagement  did  not 
prevent  Henry  from  concluding  the  separate  peace 
of  Yervins  Rve  years  later,  when  he  judged  that  his 
interest  required  it  ( 1598 ).  Elizabeth's  dissatisfac- 
tion was,  this  time,  genuine  enough.  But  Henry 
was  no  longer  her  protege,  a  homeless,  landless, 
penniless  king,  depending  on  English  subsidies, 
roaming  over  the  realm  he  called  his  own  with 
a  few  thousands,  or  sometimes  hundreds,  of  un- 
disciplined cavaliers,  who  gathered  and  dispersed  at 
their  own  pleasure.  He  was  master  of  a  re-united 
France,  and  could  no  longer  be  either  patronized  or 
threatened.  Elizabeth  might  expostulate,  and  de- 
clare that  "  if  there  was  such  a  sin  as  that  against 
the  Holy  Ghost  it  must  needs  be  ingratitude  ; " 
gratitude  was  a  sentiment  to  which  she  was  as  much 
a  stranger  as  Henry.  The  only  difference  between 
them  was  the  national  one  :  the  Englishwoman 
preached;  the  Frenchman  mocked.  What  made  her 
so  sore  was  that  he  had,  so  to  speak,  stolen  her  policy 
from  her.  His  predecessor  had  always  suspected 
her — and  with  good  reason — of  intending  "  to  draw 
her  neck  out  of  the  collar  "  if  once  she  could  induce 
him  to  undertake  a  joint  war.  The  joint  war  had 
at  length  been  undertaken  by  Henry  TV.,  and  it 
was  he  who  had  managed  to  slip  out  of  it  first,  while 


WAR  WITH  SPAIN  :  1587-1603.  265 

Elizabeth,  who  longed    for  peace,  was  obliged  to 
stand  by  the  Dutch. 

The  two  sovereigns,  however,  knew  their  own 
interest  too  well  to  quarrel.  Henry  gave  Elizabeth 
to  understand  that  his  designs  against  Spain  had 
undergone  no  change;  he  was  only  halting  for 
breath ;  he  would  help  the  Dutch  underhand — just 
what  she  used  to  say  to  Henry  III.  She  had  now 
to  deal  with  a  French  King  as  sagacious  as  her- 
self, and  a  great  deal  more  prompt  and  vigorous  in 
action  ;  not  the  man  to  be  made  a  cat's-paw  by 
any  one.  She  had  to  accept  him  as  a  partner,  if 
not  on  her  own  terms,  then  on  his.  Both  sover- 
eigns were  thoroughly  veracious — in  Carlyle's  sense 
of  the  word.  That  is  to  say,  their  policy  was  deter- 
mined not  by  passion,  or  vanity  or  sentiment  of 
any  kind,  but  by  enlightened  self-interest,  and 
was  therefore  calculable  by  those  who  know  how  to 
calculate. 


266  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTER  XL 

DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :   1588-1601. 

It  was  a  boast  of  Elizabeth  that  when  once  her 
servants  were  chosen  she  did  not  lightly  displace 
them.  Difference  of  opinion  from  their  mistress,  or 
from  one  another,  did  not  involve  resignation  or  dis- 
missal, because,  though  they  were  free  to  speak 
their  minds,  all  had  to  carry  out  with  fidelity  and 
even  zeal,  whatever  policy  the  Queen  prescribed. 
This  condition  they  accepted  ;  not  only  the  astute 
and  compliant  Burghley,  but  the  more  eager  and 
opinionated  "Walsingham  ;  and  therefore  they  had 
practically  a  life-tenure  of  office.  Soon  after  the 
Armada  the  first  generation  of  them  began  to  dis- 
appear. Bacon,  Sussex,  and  Bedford  were  already 
gone.  Leicester  died  in  1588 ;  his  brother  Warwick, 
and  Mildmay  in  1589  ;  Walsingham  and  Eandolph 
in  1591  ;  Hatton  in  1592 ;  Grey  de  Wilton  in  1593  , 
Knollys  and  Hunsdon  in  1596.  Of  the  trust}'- 
servants  with  whom  she  began  her  reign,  Burghley 
alone  remame4.      The    leading  men  of  the  new 


i' 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  267 

generation  were  Eobert  Cecil,  the  Treasurer's  second 
son,  trained  to  business  under  his  father's  eye,  and 
of  qualities  similar,  though  inferior ;  Nottingham 
(  formerly  Howard  of  Effingham),  a  straightforward 
man  of  no  great  ability,  but  acceptable  to  the  Queen 
for  his  father's  services  and  his  own  (and  not  the 
less  so  for  his  fine  presence)  ;  the  accomplished 
Buckhurst ;  the  brilliant  Ealeigh  ;  and,  younger  than 
the  rest,  Essex.  The  last  was  the  son  of  a  man  much 
favored  by  Elizabeth.  Leicester  was  his  stepfather, 
Knollys  his  grandfather,  Hunsdon  his  great-uncle, 
Walsingham  his  father-in-law,  Burghley  his  guard- 
ian. Ardent,  impulsive,  presumptuous,  a  warm 
friend,  a  rancorous  enemy,  profuse  in  expense,  law- 
less in  his  amours,  jealous  of  his  equals,  brooking  no 
superior,  impatient  of  all  rule  or  order  that  delayed 
him  from  leaping  at  once  to  the  highest  place, — he 
was  possessed  with  a  most  exaggerated  notion  of  his 
own  capacity,  which  appears  to  have  been  only 
moderate.  As  the  ward  of  Burghley  he  had  been 
much  in  the  company  of  his  future  enemy,  Robert 
Cecil,  whose  sly  prim  ways  were  most  unlike  his  own. 
The  contrast  did  him  no  harm  with  the  public,  to 
whom  the  younger  man  was  a  Tom  Jones  "^  and  the 

*  Tom  Jones  is  the  title  of  one  of  the  famous  early  Eng- 
land novels,  written  by  Fielding  and  published  in  1749.  Blifil 
is  the  hypocrite,  while  Tom  is  a  rogue  with  many  attractions. 


268  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

elder  a  Blifil.  Two  vastly  abler  men,  Francis  Bacon 
and  Ealeigh,  less  advantageously  placed,  but  un- 
hampered with  any  scruples,  were  busily  trying  to 
profit  by  the  all-pervading  animosity  of  Cecil  and 
Essex. 

Belonging,  as  Essex  did  by  his  connections,  to  the 
inner  circle  who  stood  closest  to  Elizabeth,  it  was 
natural  that  she  should  take  an  interest  in  him,  and 
give  him  opportunities  for  turning  his  showy  quali- 
ties to  account.  In  1586  he  was  sent  to  the  Low 
Countries  as  general  of  cavalry  under  his  stepfather, 
Leicester.  He  distinguished  himself  by  his  fiery 
valor  in  the  expeditions  to  Spain,  and  as  comman- 
der of  the  English  army  in  France,  though  he  does 
not  seem  to  have  had  any  real  military  talent.  But 
Elizabeth's  regard  for  him  was  soon  shaken  by  his 
presumptuous  and  unruly  behavior.  When  he  fought 
a  duel  with  Sir  Charles  Blount  because  she  had  con- 
ferred some  favor  on  the  latter,  she  swore  "  by  God's 
death  it  were  fitting  some  one  should  take  him  down 
and  teach  him  better  manners,  or  there  were  no  rule 
with  him."  He  displeased  her  by  his  quarrels  with 
Cecil  and  Effingham,  and  his  discontented  grum- 
bling. She  was  highly  dissatisfied  with  his  manage- 
ment of  the  Azores  expedition  in  1597.  In  July, 
1598,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Council,  she  was  provoked 
by  his  insolence  to  strike  him:  and  though  after 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  269 

three  months  he  obtained  his  pardon,  he  never  re- 
gained her  favor. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Burghley  died  (August  4, 
1698),  in  his  seventy-eighth  year.  EHzabeth,  though 
she  could  call  him  "  a  f roward  old  fool "  about  a 
trifling  matter  (March,  1596),  could  not  but  feel  that 
much  was  changed  when  she  lost  the  able  and  faith- 
ful servant  who  had  worked  with  her  for  forty  years. 
"  She  seemeth  to  take  it  very  grievously,  shedding 
of  tears  and  separating  herself  from  all  company." 
Buckhurst  was  the  new  Treasurer. 

Essex  had  for  some  time  cast  his  eyes  on  Ireland 
as  a  field  where  glory  and  power  might  be  won. 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  was  already  specu- 
lating on  the  advantage  that  the  possession  of  an 
army  might  give  him  in  any  difficulty  with  his  rivals 
or  with  the  Queen  herself.  Cecil  perfidiously  ad- 
vocated his  appointment  to  a  post  which  had  been 
the  grave  of  so  many  reputations.  The  Queen  at 
length  consented,  though  reluctantly.  Essex  was  a 
popular  favorite.  He  had  managed — it  is  not  very 
clear  how — to  win  the  confidence  of  both  Puritans 
and  Papists.  The  general  belief  was  that,  for  the 
first  time  since  she  had  mounted  the  throne,  Eliza- 
beth was  afraid  of  one  of  her  subjects. 

During  the  whole  of  the  reign  Ireland  had  been  a 
cause  of  trouble  and  anxiety.    Elizabeth's  treatment 


270  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

of  that  unhappy  country  was  not  more  creditable  or 
successful  than  that  of  other  English  statesmen  be- 
fore and  after  her.  There  was  the  same  absence  of 
any  systematic  policy  steadily  carried  out,  the  same 
wearisome  and  disreputable  alternation  between 
bursts  of  savage  repression  and  intervals  of  pusillan- 
imity, concession,  and  neglect.  In  the  competition 
of  the  various  departments  of  the  public  service  for 
attention  and  expenditure,  Ireland  generally  came 
last.  All  other  needs  had  to  be  served  first  whether 
at  home  or  abroad. 

In  the  early  years  of  the  reign  the  chief  trouble 
lay  in  Ulster,  then  the  most  purely  Celtic  part  of 
Ireland,  and  practically  untouched  by  English  con- 
quest. Twice,  in  her  weariness  of  the  struggle  with 
Shan  0'l!^eill,  Elizabeth  conceded  to  him  something 
like  a  sub-kingship  of  Ulster  in  return  for  his  nomi- 
nal submission.  In  the  end  he  was  beaten,  and  his 
head  was  fixed  on  the  walls  of  Dublin  Castle  (1566.)  * 

*  "  Among  the  aboriginal  Irish,  the  man  who  chiefly  excited 
the  jealousy  of  the  government  was  Shan  O'Neil,  the  eldest 
among  the  legitimate  children  of  the  earl  of  Tyrone.  Henry 
VIII.  had  granted  the  succession  to  Matthew,  a  bastard  son  ; 
but  Shan  claimed  the  chieftaincy  of  Ulster  as  his  right,  and  the 
natives  honored  and  obeyed  him  as  the  O'Neil.  Through  the 
suggestion  of  Sussex,  he  consented  to  visit  Elizabeth,  and  to 
lay  his  pretensions  before  her.  At  the  English  court  he  ap- 
peared in  the  dress  of  his  country,  attended  by  his  guard,  who 
were  armed  with  their  battle-axes,  and  arrayed  in  linen  vests 
dyed  with  saffron.     [Senleger  thus  describes  their  costume  ; 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  271 

But  nothing  further  was  done  to  anglicize  Ulster. 
During  the  attempt  of  the  Devonshire  adventurers 
to  colonize  South  Munster  (1569-71),  and  the  con- 
sequent rebellion,  the  northern  province  remained 
an  unconcerned  spectator.  Nor  did  it  join  in  the 
great  Desmond  rising  *  (1579-83),  which,  with  the 
insurrection  of  the  Catholic  lords  of  the  Pale  and  the 
landing  of  the  Pope's  Italians  at  Smerwick,  was  the 
Irish  branch  of  the  threefold  attack  on  Elizabeth  di- 
rected by  Gregory  XIIL  The  attempt  of  the  elder 
Essex  to  colonize  Antrim  (1573-75)  was  a  disastrous 
failure,  and  Ulster  still  remained  practically  inde- 
pendent of  the  Dublin  Government. 

*  The  other  sorte  callid  kerne  ar  naked  men,  but  only  ther 
shertes  and  smal  cotes '.]  The  Queen  was  pleased,  and  though 
she  did  not  confirm  his  claim,  dismissed  him  with  promises  of 
favor.  Sometimes  he  rendered  the  most  useful  services  to  the 
English  government ;  at  other  times  he  revenged  severely  the 
real  or  imaginary  injuries  which  he  received.  He  was  of  a 
turbulent  but  generous  disposition,  proud  of  his  name  and  im- 
portance, and  most  feelingly  alive  to  every  species  of  insult. 
At  last  he  broke — perhaps  was  driven — into  acts  of  open  re- 
bellion ;  repeated  losses  compelled  him  to  seek  refuge  among 
the  Scots  of  Ulster,  equally  enemies  to  the  natives  and  the 
English ;  and  the  Irish  chieftain  was  basely  assassinated  by 
his  new  friends,  at  the  instigation  of  Piers,  an  English  officer. 
By  act  of  parliament  the  name,  with  the  dignity  of  O'Neil, 
was  extinguished  forever ;  to  assume  it  was  made  high  trea- 
son ;  and  the  lands  of  Shan  and  of  all  his  adherents,  comprising 
one  half  of  Ulster,  were  vested  in  the  crown,  with  some  tri- 
fling exceptions  in  favor  of  a  few  loyalists." — Lingard,  vi :  315. 
*  See  p.  183. 


272  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

The  most  successful  Deputy  of  the  reign  was  Perrot 
(1584-87),  a  valiant  soldier  and  strict  ruler,  who,  after 
long  experience  in  the  Irish  wars,  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  what  Ireland  most  wanted  was  justice. 
The  native  chiefs,  released  from  the  constant  dread 
of  spoliation,  and  finding  that  English  encroachment 
was  repressed  as  inflexibly  as  Irish  disorder,  became 
quiet  and  friendly.  But  this  system  did  not  suit  the 
dominant  race.  The  Deputy  was  accused  to  the 
Queen  of  seeking  to  betray  the  country  to  the  Irish 
and  the  Spaniard.  Eecalled,  and  put  upon  his  trial 
for  treason,  he  was  found  guilty  on  suborned  evi- 
dence, and  sentenced  to  death.  It  is  usually  said  that 
his  real  offence  was  some  disrespectful  language  about 
the  Queen,  which  he  confessed.  But  it  seems  that  she 
forbore  to  take  his  life  precisely  because  she  would 
not  have  it  thought  that  she  was  influenced  by  per- 
sonal resentment. 

His  successor,  Fitzwilliam,  was  a  Deputy  of  the 
old  sort — greedy,  violent,  careless  of  consequences, 
and  always  acting  on  the  principle  that,  as  against 
an  Englishman,  a  Celt  had  no  rights.  The  execution 
of  MacMahon  in  Monaghan,  and  the  confiscation  of 
his  lands  on  a  trivial  pretext,  alarmed  the  l^orth. 
Ulster  had  not  been  bled  white  like  the  rest  of  Ire- 
land. The  O'lTeills  had  a  nephew  of  their  old  hero 
Shan  for  their  chief,  who  had  been  brought  up  at  the 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  273 

English  Court  and  made  Earl  of  Tyrone  by  Elizabeth. 
An  educated  and  remarkably  able  man,  he  had  none, 
of  his  uncle's  illusions.  He  clung  to  his  ancestral 
rights  and  dignity,  but  he  hoped  to  preserve  them 
by  zealously  discharging  his  obligations  as  a  vassal 
of  the  Queen.  He  served  in  the  war  against  Des- 
mond, and  exerted  himself  to  maintain  order  in 
Ulster.  But  he  had  no  mind  to  sink  into  the  posi- 
tion of  a  mere  dignified  land-owner  like  theEnglish 
nobles ;  nor  indeed,  under  such  a  Deputy  as  Fitz- 
william,  was  he  likely  to  preserve  even  his  lands 
if  he  lost  his  power.  Kather  than  that,  he  deter- 
mined to  enter  into  what  he  knew  was  a  most  un- 
equal struggle,  on  the  off-chance  of  pulling  through 
by  help  from  Spain.  It  is  clear  that  he  was  driven 
into  rebellion  against  his  inclination.  But  when  he 
had  once  drawn  the  sword  he  maintained  the  struggle 
against  one  Deputy  after  another  with  wonderful 
tenacity  and  resource.  For  the  first  time  in  Irish 
history,  the  rebel  forces  were  disciplined  and  armed 
like  those  of  the  crown,  and  stood  up  to  them  in 
equal  numbers  on  equal  terms.  At  length,  in  August, 
1598,  Tyrone  inflicted  upon  Sir  Henry  Bagnall  near 
Armagh  the  severest  defeat  that  the  English  had 
ever  suffered  in  Ireland  ;  slaying  1500  of  his  men, 
and  capturing  all  his  artillery  and  baggage.  Insur- 
rections at  once  broke  out  all  over  Ireland. 


274:  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

This  was  the  situation  with  which  Essex  under- 
took to  deal.  He  had  loudly  blamed  other  Deputies 
for  not  vigorously  attacking  Tyrone  in  his  own  coun- 
try. Yigor  was  the  one  military  quality  which  he 
himself  possessed.  He  went  with  the  title  of  Lieu- 
tenant and  Governor- General,  and  with  extraordi- 
nary powers,  at  the  head  of  21,000  men — such  an  army 
as  had  never  been  sent  to  Ireland  (April  1599).  The 
Queen,  who  trembled  at  the  expense,  and  did  not 
wish  to  see  any  of  her  nobles,  least  of  all  Essex,  per- 
manently established  in  a  great  military  command, 
enjoined  him  to  push  at  once  into  Ulster,  as  he  had 
himself  proposed,  and  finish  the  war.  Instead  of 
doing  this,  he  went  south  into  districts  that  had  been 
depopulated  and  desolated  by  the  savage  warfare 
of  the  last  thirty  years.  Even  here  he  met  with 
discreditable  reverses.  When  he  got  back  to  Dublin 
(July)  his  army  was  reduced  by  disease  and  deser- 
tion to  less  than  5000  men.  Disregarding  the  Queen's 
express  prohibition,  he  made  his  friend  Southampton 
General  of  horse.  "When  she  censured  his  bad 
management,  he  replied  with  impertinent  complaints 
about  the  favor  she  was  showing  to  Cecil,  Kaleigh, 
and  Cobham,  and  began  to  consult  with  his  friends 
about  carrying  selected  troops  over  to  England  to 
remove  them.  Rumors  of  his  intention  to  return 
reached  the  Queen.    "  We  do  charge  you,"  she  wrote, 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  ^75 

"  as  you  tender  our  pleasure,  that  you  adventure  not 
to  come  out  of  that  kingdom."  He  declared  that 
he  could  not  invade  Ulster  without  reinforcements. 
They  were  sent,  and  at  length  he  marched  into  Louth 
(September).  There  he  was  met  by  Tyrone,  who, 
in  an  interview,  completely  twisted  him  round  his 
finger,  and  obtained  a  cessation  of  arms  and  the 
promise  of  concessions  amounting  to  what  would 
now  be  called  Home  Eule.  A  few  days  later,  on 
receipt  of  an  angry  letter  from  the  Queen  forbidding 
him  to  grant  any  terms  without  her  permission,  he 
deserted  his  post  and  hurried  to  England.  The  first 
notice  Elizabeth  received  of  this  astounding  piece  of 
insubordination  was  his  still  more  astounding  incur- 
sion into  her  bedroom,  all  muddy  from  his  ride^ 
before  she  was  completely  dressed  (September  28, 
1599). 

Elizabeth  seems  to  have  been  so  much  taken 
aback  by  the  Earl's  unparalleled  presumption,  that 
she  did  not  blaze  out  as  might  have  been  expected. 
She  gave  him  audience  an  hour  or  two  later,  and 
heard  what  he  had  to  say.  Probably  he  adopted  an 
injured  tone  as  usual,  and  inveighed  against  "  that 
knave  Kaleigh"  and  "that  sycophant  Cobham." 
But  his  insubordination  had  been  gross,  and  no  talk- 
ing could  make  it  anything  else.  It  was  more  dan- 
gerous than  Leicester's  disobedience  in  1586,  because 


276  OtJEEN  ELIZABETH. 

it  came  from  a  vastly  more  dangerous  person.  The 
same  afternoon  the  Queen  referred  the  matter  to  the 
Council.  Essex  was  put  under  arrest,  and  never 
saw  her  again.  The  more  she  reflected,  the  more 
indignant  and  alarmed  she  became.  "  By  God's 
son,"  she  said  to  Harington,  "  I  am  no  Queen  ;  this 
man  is  above  me."  After  a  delay  of  nine  months, 
occasioned  by  his  illness,  the  fallen  favorite  was 
brought  before  a  special  Commission  on  the  charge 
of  contempt  and  disobedience,  and  sentenced  to  be 
suspended  from  his  oflBices  and  confined  to  his  house 
during  the  Queen's  pleasure  (June  1600).  In  a  few 
weeks  he  was  released  from  arrest,  but  he  could  not 
obtain  permission  to  appear  at  court,  though  he  im- 
plored it  in  most  abject  letters. 

There  are  persons  who  consider  themselves  to  be 
intolerably  wronged  and  persecuted  if  they  cannot 
have  precedence  and  power  over  their  fellow- 
citizens.  Essex  was  such  a  person.  Instead  of  be- 
ing thankful  that  he  had  escaped  the  punishment 
which  under  most  sovereigns  he  would  have  suf- 
fered, he  entered  into  criminal  plots  for  coercing,  if 
not  overthrowing,  the  Queen.  He  urged  the  Scotch 
King  to  enforce  the  recognition  of  his  title  by  arms. 
He  tried  to  persuade  Mountjoy,  his  successor  in  Ire- 
land, to  carry  his  army  to  Scotland  to  co-operate 
with  James.    These  intrigues  were  not  known  to  the 


t)OMESTlC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  27t 

Government.  But  it  did  not  escape  observation  that 
he  was  collecting  men  of  the  sword  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  his  house ;  that  he  was  holding  consulta- 
tions with  suspected  nobles  and  gentlemen  (some  of 
whom  were  afterwards  engaged  in  the  Gunpowder 
Plot) ;  that  the  Puritan  clergy  were  preaching  and 
praying  for  his  cause ;  and  that  there  was  a  certain 
ferment  in  the  city.  Essex  was  therefore  summoned 
to  attend  before  the  Council.  Instead  of  obeying, 
he  flew  to  arms,  with  Lords  Southampton,  Rutland, 
Sandys,  Cromwell,  and  Monteagle,  and  about  300 
gentlemen.  But  the  citizens  of  London  did  not  re- 
spond to  his  appeal,  and  the  insurrection  was  easily 
suppressed,  less  than  a  dozen  persons  being  slain  on 
both  sides  (February  8, 1601).  A  more  senseless  and 
profligate  attempt  to  overthrow  a  good  government 
it  would  be  difficult  to  find  in  history.  It  was  not 
dignified  by  any  semblance  of  principle,  and  it  would 
sufficiently  stamp  the  character  of  its  author,  even 
if  it  stood  alone  as  an  evidence  of  his  vanity,  egotism, 
and  want  of  common  sense. 

The  trial  and  execution  of  the  principal  malefactor 
followed  as  a  matter  of  course  and  without  delay 
(February  25).  It  would  have  been  scandalous  to 
spare  him.  Elizabeth  had  once  been  fond  of  him, 
and  had  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  it.  To  talk  of 
her  ** passion  "  and  her  "amorous  inclination,"  as 


278  QUEEN  ELIZABETH* 

Hume  and  others  have  done,  is  revolting  and  malig- 
nant nonsense.  It  is  creditable  to  old  age  when  it 
can  take  pleasure  in  the  unfolding  of  bright  and 
promising  youth.  But  royal  favor  was  not  good  for 
such  a  man  as  Essex.  It  developed  the  worst  feat- 
ures in  his  showy  but  faulty  character.  As  he 
steadily  deteriorated,  her  regard  cooled ;  but  so 
much  of  it  remained  that  she  tried  to  amend  him  by 
chastisement,  "  ad  correctionem^''  as  she  said,  "  non 
ad  ruinamP  *  She  had  long  before  warned  him 
that,  though  she  had  put  up  with  much  disrespect  to 
her  person,  he  must  not  touch  her  sceptre,  or  he 
would  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  law  of  Eng- 
land. She  was  as  good  as  her  word,  and,  though 
the  memory  of  it  was  painful  to  her,  there  is  not  the 
smallest  evidence  that  she  ever  repented  of  having 
allowed  the  law  to  take  its  course.f  Only  three  of 
the  accomplices  of  Essex  were  punished  capitally. 
The  five  peers,  none  of  them  powerful  or  formidable, 
experienced  Elizabeth's  accustomed  clemency. 

It  has  been  suggested  by  an  admirer  of  Essex  that 
he  failed  in  Ireland  because  his  "  sensitively  attuned 
nature  "  shrank  from  the  systematic  desolation  and 
starvation  afterwards  employed  by  his  successor. 

*  '*  For  his  benefit,  not  for  his  destruction." 

f  The  story  of  the  ring,  said  to  have  been  intercepted  by 
Lady  Nottingham,  has  been  shown  to  be  unworthy  of  belief, 
See  Ranke,  History  of  England,  vol.  i. ,  p.  352  ;  transl. 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  279 

'No  evidence  is  offered  for  this  suggestion.  In  a 
letter  to  the  Queen  (June  25,  1599)  he  advocates 
"  burning  and  spoiling  the  country  m  all  places,^^ 
which  method  "  shall  starve  the  rebels  in  one  year." 
This  course  Mount  joy  carried  out.  With  means  far 
inferior  to  those  of  Essex,  and  notwithstanding  the 
landing  of  3000  Spaniards  at  Kinsale  (September, 
1601),  he  was  the  first  Englishman  who  completely 
subdued  Ireland.  Tyrone  surrendered  a  few  days 
before  the  Queen's  death. 

Little  has  been  said  in  these  pages  about  parlia- 
mentary proceedings.  The  real  history  of  the  reign 
does  not  lie  there.  The  country  was  governed 
wholly  by  the  Queen,  with  the  advice  of  her  Council, 
and  not  at  all  by  Parliament.  In  the  forty-five 
years  of  her  reign  there  were  only  thirteen  sessions 
of  Parliament.  The  functions  of  Parliament  were 
to  vote  grants  of  money  when  the  ordinary  revenues 
of  the  crown  were  insufficient,  and  to  make  laws. 
Its  right  in  these  matters  was  unquestioned.  If  the 
Queen  had  never  wanted  subsidies  or  penal  laws 
against  her  political  and  religious  opponents  (of  other 
laws  she  often  said  there  were  more  than  enough 
already),  it  would  never  have  been  summoned  at  all ; 
nor  is  there  any  reason  to  suppose  that  the  country 
would  have  complained  as  long  as  it  was  governed 
with  prudence  and  success.     In  fact,  to  do  without 


^SO  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

Parliaments  was  distinctly  popular,  because  it  meant 
doing  without  subsidies. 

In  the  thirty  years  preceding  the  Armada — the 
sessions  of  Parliament  being  nine — Elizabeth  applied 
for  only  eight  subsidies,  and  of  one  of  them  a  por- 
tion was  remitted.  By  her  economy  she  not  only 
defrayed  the  expenses  of  government  out  of  the 
ordinary  revenue,  which,  at  the  end  of  the  reign  was 
about  £300,000  a  year,  but  paid  off  old  debts.  It 
was  not  till  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  her  reign  that 
she  discharged  the  last  of  her  father's  debts,  up  to 
which  time  she  had  been  paying  interest  on  it. 
Subsequently  she  even  accumulated  a  small  reserve, 
which  as  she  told  Parliament,  was  a  most  necessary 
thing  if  she  was  not  to  be  driven  to  borrow  on 
sudden  emergency.  But  this  reserve  vanished  im- 
mediately she  became  involved  in  the  great  war  with 
Spain ;  and  during  the  last  fifteen  years  of  her  life, 
although  she  received  twelve  subsidies,  she  was 
always  in  difiiculty  for  money.  She  had  to  sell 
crown  lands  to  the  value  of  £372,000.  Parliament, 
which  had  voted  the  usual  single  subsidies  without 
complaint,  grumbled  and  pretended  poverty  when 
she  asked  for  three  and  even  four.*    Bacon's  famous 


*  The  increase  was  not  so  great  as  it  appears.  A  subsidy 
with  two  tenths  and  fifteenths  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  the 
reign  yielded  £175,000  ;  in  the  forty-third  only  £134,000, 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  281 

outburst  (1593)  about  gentlemen  having  to  sell  their 
plate  and  farmers  their  brass  pots  to  pay  the  tax, 
was  a  piece  of  claptrap.  The  nation  was,  relatively 
to  former  times,  rolling  in  wealth.  But  the  old 
belief  had  still  considerable  strength — that  govern- 
ment being  the  affair  of  the  King,  not  of  his  subjects, 
he  should  provide  for  its  expenses  out  of  his  heredi- 
tary income,  just  as  they  paid  their  private  expenses 
out  of  their  private  incomes  ;  that  he  had  no  more 
claim  to  dip  into  their  pockets  than  they  had  to  dip 
into  his ;  and  that  a  subsidy,  as  its  name  imports, 
was  an  occasional  and  extraordinary  assistance 
furnished  as  a  matter  not  of  duty  but  of  good-will. 

This  might  have  been  healthy  doctrine  when  kings 
were  campaigning  on  the  Continent  for  personal  or 
dynastic  objects.  It  was  out  of  place  when  a  large 
expenditure  was  indispensable  for  the  interests  and 
safety  of  the  country.  The  grumbling,  therefore, 
about  taxation  towards  the  end  of  the  reign  was 
unreasonable  and  discreditable  to  the  grumblers. 
The  Queen  met  them  with  her  usual  good  sense. 
She  explained  to  them — though,  as  she  correctly 
said,  she  was  under  no  constitutional  obligation 
to  do  so — how  the  money  went,  what  she  had 
spent  on  the  Spanish  war,  on  Ireland,  and  in  loans 
to  the  Dutch  and  the  French  king.  The  plea  was 
unanswerable.    Her  private  expenditure  was  on  a 


282  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.  ^ 

very  modest  scale.  In  particular  she  had  never  in- 
dulged in  that  besetting  and  costly  sin  of  princes, 
palace-building  ;  and  this  at  a  time  when  the  noble 
mansions  which  still  testify  to  the  wealth  of  the  Eng- 
land of  that  day  were  rising  in  every  county.  Her 
only  extravagance  was  dress.  Some  have  carped 
at  her  collection  of  jewelry.  But  jewels,  like  the 
silver  balustrades  of  Frederick  William  I.,  were  a 
mode  of  hoarding,  and  in  her  later  years  she  recon- 
verted jewels  into  money  to  meet  the  expenses  of 
the  State.  Modern  writers,  who  so  airily  blame 
her  for  not  subsidizing  more  liberally  her  Scotch, 
Dutch  and  French  allies,  would  find  it  difficult,  if 
they  condescended  to  particulars,  to  explain  how 
she  was  able  to  give  them  as  much  money  as  she 
did. 

It  is  common  to  make  much  of  the  debate  on  mo- 
nopolies in  the  last  Parliament  of  Elizabeth  (1601), 
as  showing  the  rise  of  a  spirit  of  resistance  to  the 
royal  prerogative.  I  do  not  think  that  the  report 
of  that  debate  would  convey  such  an  impression  to 
any  one  reading  it  without  preconceived  views. 
None  of  the  speakers  contested  the  prerogative. 
They  only  complained  that  it  was  being  exercised 
in  a  way  prejudicial  to  the  public  interest.  If  the 
monopolies  had  been  unimportant,  or  if  the  patentees 
had  used  their  privilege  less  greedily,  there  would 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1888-1601.  283 

evidently  have  been  no  complaint  as  to  the  principle 
involved.  'No  course  of  action  vras  decided  on,  be- 
cause the  Queen  intervened  by  a  message  in  which 
she  stated  that  she  had  not  been  aware  of  the  abuses 
prevailing,  that  she  was  as  indignant  at  them  as 
Parliament  could  be,  and  that  she  would  put  a  stop, 
not  to  monopolies,  but  to  such  as  were  injurious. 
With  this  message  the  House  of  Commons  was  more 
than  satisfied.  As  a  matter  of  fact  monopolies 
went  on  till  dealt  with  by  the  declaratory  statute  in 
the  twenty-first  year  of  James  I. 

If  the  last  Tudor  handed  down  the  English  Con- 
stitution to  the  first  Stuart  as  she  had  received  it  from 
her  predecessors,  unchanged  either  in  theory  or  prac- 
tice, it  was  far  otherwise  with  the  English  Church. 
There  are  two  conflicting  views  as  to  the  historical 
position  of  the  Church  in  this  country.  According 
to  one  it  was,  all  through  the  Middle  Age,  !N"ational 
as  well  as  Catholic.  The  changes  which  took  place 
at  the  Eef ormation  made  no  difference  in  that  respect, 
and  involved  no  break  in  its  continuity.  It  is  not 
a  Protestant  Church.  It  is  still  ]!!^ational  and  still 
Catholic,  resting  on  precisely  the  same  foundations, 
and  existing  by  the  same  title  as  it  did  in  the  days  of 
Dunstan  and  Becket.  According  to  the  other  view, 
the  epithets  l^ational  and  Catholic  are  contradic- 
tory.   A  Church  which  undergoes  radical  changes 


284  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

of  government,  worship,  and  doctrine  is  no  longer 
the  same  Church  but  a  new  one,  and  must  be  held 
to  have  been  established  by  the  authority  which 
prescribed  these  changes,  which,  in  this  case,  was 
the  Queen  and  Parliament.  The  word  "  Protes- 
tant" was  avoided  in  its  formularies  to  make  con- 
formity easier  for  Catholics  ;  but  it  is  a  Protestant 
Church  all  the  same.  Whichever  of  these  views  is 
nearer  to  the  truth,  it  cannot  be  denied  that,  by  the 
legislation  of  Elizabeth  the  English  Church  became 
— what  it  was  not  in  the  Middle  Age — a  spiritual 
organization  entirely  dependent  on  the  State.  This 
it  remains  still  ;  the  supremacy  having  been  vir- 
tually transferred  from  the  crown  to  Parliament  in 
the  next  century.  I  shall  not  venture  to  inquire 
how  far  this  condition  of  dependence  has  affected  its 
ability  and  inclination  to  perform  the  part  of  a  true 
spiritual  power.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  no  act  of 
will  on  the  part  of  any  English  statesman  has  had 
such  importance  and  lasting  consequences,  for  good 
or  for  evil,  as  the  decision  of  Elizabeth  to  make  the 
Church  of  England  what  it  is. 

We  have  seen  that  the  government  and  worship 
of  the  Church  were  established  b}^  Act  of  Parliament 
in  1559,  and  its  doctrines  in  1571.  But  when  once 
Elizabeth  had  placed  her  ecclesiastical  powers  be- 
yond dispute,  by  obtaining  statutory  sanction  for 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  285 

them,  she  allowed  no  further  interference  by  Parlia- 
ment. All  its  attempts,  even  at  a  mere  discussion  of 
ecclesiastical  matters,  she  peremptorily  suppressed. 
She  supplied  any  further  legislation  that  was  needed 
by  virtue  of  her  supremacy,  and  she  exercised  her 
ecclesiastical  government  by  the  Court  of  High  Com- 
mission. The  new  Anglican  model  was  acquiesced 
in  by  the  majority  of  the  nation.  But  it  had,  at  first, 
no  hearty  support  except  from  the  Government. 
The  earnest  religionists  were  either  Catholics  or 
Puritan.  The  object  of  Elizabeth  was  to  compel 
these  two  extreme  parties  to  outward  conformity  of 
worship.  What  their  real  beliefs  were  she  did  not 
care. 

The  large  majority  of  the  Catholics  showed  a  loyal 
and  patriotic  spirit  at  the  time  of  the  Armada.  But 
they  were  not  treated  with  confidence  by  the  Govern- 
ment. Great  numbers  of  them  were  imprisoned  or 
confined  in  the  houses  of  Protestant  gentlemen,  by 
way  of  precaution,  when  the  Armada  was  approach- 
ing. ]^o  Catholic,  I  believe,  was  intrusted  with  any 
command  either  by  land  or  sea ;  and  after  the  dan- 
ger was  over,  the  persecution,  in  all  its  forms,  be- 
came sharper  than  ever.  There  was  the  less  reason 
for  this,  inasmuch  as  it  was  no  secret  that  the  sec- 
ular priests  and  the  great  majority  of  the  English 
Catholics  had  become  bitterly  hostile  to  the  small 


286  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

Jesuitical  faction  whose  treasonable  conspiracies  had 
brought  so  much  trouble  on  their  loyal  co-religionists. 

The  term  "  Puritan  "  is  used  loosely,  though  con- 
veniently, to  designate  several  shades  of  belief.  By 
far  the  larger  number  of  those  to  whom  it  is  applied 
were,  and  meant  to  remain,  members  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church.  They  objected  to  certain  ceremonies 
and  vestments.  They  hoped  to  procure  the  abolition 
of  these,  and,  in  the  meantime,  evaded  them  when 
they  could.  They  were  what  would  now  be  called 
the  Evangelical  or  Low  Church  party.  They  held 
Calvin's  distinctive  doctrines  on  predestination,  as 
indeed  did  most  of  the  bishops ;  but  though  prefer- 
ring his  Presbyterian  organization,  or  something  like 
it,  they  did  not  treat  it  as  essential.  They  were 
broadly  distinguished  from  the  Brownists  or  Inde- 
pendents, then  an  insignificant  minority,  who  held 
each  congregation  to  be  a  church,  and  therefore  pro- 
tested against  the  establishment  of  any  national 
church. 

Though  Elizabeth  persecuted  the  Catholics  with  a 
severity  steadily  increasing  in  proportion  as  they  be- 
came less  numerous  and  formidable,  she  remained  to 
the  last  anxious  to  make  conformity  easy  for  them. 
This  was  her  reason  for  so  obstinately  refusing  the 
concessions  in  the  matter  of  ritual  and  vestments — 
trifling  as  they  appear  to  the  modern  mind — which 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS  :  1588-1601.  287 

would  have  satisfied  almost  the  whole  of  the  Puritan 
party.  This  policy  (for  policy  it  assuredly  was  rather 
than  conviction)  which  drove  the  most  earnest  Prot- 
estants into  an  attitude  of  opposition  destined  in  the 
next  two  reigns  to  have  such  serious  consequences, 
has  been  severely  censured.  But  there  can  be  no 
question  that  it  did  answer  the  purpose  she  had  in 
view,  which  for  the  moment  was  most  important. 
It  did  induce  great  numbers  of  Catholics  to  conform. 
She  avoided  a  civil  war  in  her  own  time  between 
Catholics  and  Anglicans  at  the  price  of  a  civil  war 
later  on  between  Anglicans  and  Puritans.  Looking 
at  the  great  drama  as  a  whole,  perhaps  the  Puritans 
of  the  Great  Rebellion  might  congratulate  themselves 
on  the  part  that  Elizabeth  chose  to  play  in  its 
earlier  acts.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  a  civil  war 
in  the  sixteenth  century  between  Catholics  and  Prot- 
estants would  have  been  waged  with  far  more 
ferocity  than  was  displayed  by  either  Cavaliers  or 
Eoundheads,  and  would  have  been  attended  with 
the  horrors  of  foreign  invasion.  To  conciliate  the 
earnest  religionists  on  both  sides  was  impossible. 
Elizabeth  chose  the  via  media,  and  the  successful 
equilibrium  which  she  maintained  during  nearly  half 
a  century  proves  that  she  hit  upon  what  in  her  own 
day  was  the  true  centre  of  gravity. 
But  while  doing  justice  to  Elizabeth's  insight  and 


288  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

prudence,  we  may  not  excuse  her  extreme  severity 
to  the  nonconformists  of  either  party.  It  was  not 
necessary.  It  seems  to  have  been  even  impolitic. 
It  arose  from  her  arbitrary  temper — from  a  quality, 
that  is  to  say,  valuable  in  a  ruler,  but  apt,  in  great 
rulers,  to  be  somewhat  in  excess.  I  have  condemned 
her  persecution  of  the  Catholics.  Her  persecution 
of  the  Protestant  nonconformists  was  marked  by 
even  greater  injustice.  Against  the  Catholics  it 
might  at  least  be  urged  that  their  opinions  logically 
led  to  disloyalty.  But  the  Independents,  Barrow, 
Greenwood,  and  Penry,*  were  indisputably  loyal 
men.  They  were  put  to  death  nominally  for  spread- 
ing writings  which,  contrary  to  common  sense,  were 
held  to  be  seditious,  but  really  for  their  religious 
opinions,  which,  in  the  case  of  the  first  two,  were 
extracted  from  them  by  the  interrogatories  of  Arch- 
bishop Whitgift,  an  Inquisitor  as  strenuous  and 
merciless  as  Torquemada.  Some  of  the  Council, 
especially  Burghley  and  Knollys,  were  strongly  op- 
posed to  Whitgift's  proceedings.  It  must  therefore 
be  assumed  that  he  had  the  Queen's  personal  ap- 
proval. She  had  committed  herself  to  a  struggle 
with  intrepid  and  obstinate  men.      The  crowded 

*  These  three  English  reformers,  regarded  as  founders  of 
Congregationalism,  were  executed  in  1593  on  the  charge  of 
sedition ;  Barrow  and  Greenwood  on  the  6th  of  April,  and 
Penry  on  the  39th  of  May. 


DOMESTIC  AFFAIRS:  1588-1601.  28^ 

gaols  were  a  visible  demonstration  that  she  could 
not  compel  them  to  submit ;  and  to  hang  them  all 
was  out  of  the  question.  An  Act  was  therefore 
passed  in  1593,  by  which  those  who  would  not  prom- 
ise to  attend  church  were  to  be  banished  the  coun- 
try. Thus  most  of  the  Independents  were  at  last 
got  rid  of.  The  non-separatist  Puritans,  who 
aimed  at  less  radical  changes,  and  hoped  to  effect 
them,  if  not  under  their  present  sovereign,  yet  under 
her  successor,  kept  on  the  windy  side  of  the  law,  at- 
tending church  once  a  month,  and  not  entering  till 
the  service  was  nearly  over.  Thus,  at  the  end  of  her 
reign,  Elizabeth  perhaps  flattered  herself  that  she 
was  within  measurable  distance  of  religious  uni- 
formity. 
19 


290  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

LAST  YEAES  AND  DEATH  :    1601-1603. 

The  death  of  Mary  Stuart  did  something  to 
simplify  parties  in  Scotland ;  and,  if  her  son  had 
possessed  the  qualities  of  a  ruler,  he  would  have  had 
a  better  chance  of  reducing  his  kingdom  to  order 
than  any  of  his  predecessors,  because  a  middle  class 
was  at  length  rising  into  importance.  As  far  as 
knowledge  and  discernment  went,  he  was  an  able 
politician,  and  on  several  occasions  he  showed  not 
only  skill  in  his  combinations,  but — what  he  is  not 
generally  credited  with  by  those  who  study  only  his 
career  in  England — considerable  energy  and  cour- 
age. But  he  was  wanting  in  perseverance,  and  a 
slave  to  idle  pleasures.  He  had  always  some  favor- 
ite upon  whom  he  lavished  any  money  that  came 
into  his  hands.  What  was  needed  in  his  own  inter- 
est and  that  of  his  country  was  that  he  should  exer- 
cise rigid  economy,  develop  all  the  forces  that  made 
for  order,  ally  himself  with  the  burghs  and  lower 
barons,  cultivate  good  relations  with  the  Kirk,  in- 


LAST  YEARS  AND  DEATH :  1601-1603.  291 

dustriously  attend  to  all  the  details  of  government, 
and  seize  every  opportunity  to  humble  the  great 
nobles  of  whatever  party  or  creed.  Instead  of  this, 
he  tried  to  maintain  himself  by  balancing  rival 
parties,  and  employing  one  nobleman  to  execute  his 
vengeance  on  another.  Instead  of"  honestly  and 
zealously  seconding  the  policy  of  Elizabeth/and  so 
deserving  her  confidence  and  support,  which  would 
have  been  of  the  utmost  value  to  him,  he  tried  to 
levy  blackmail  on  her  by  coquetting  with  Spain  and 
the  Catholics. 

Elizabeth  is  accused  of  deliberately  encouraging 
Scottish  factions  in  order  to  keep  the  northern  king- 
dom weak.  She  certainly  supported  Stewart,  Earl 
of  Bothwell,  a  turbulent  and  unprincipled  man, 
while  he  was  the  antagonist  of  the  Catholic  nobles 
who  were  inviting  the  Spaniard.  But  it  is  plain 
that  she  desired  nothing  so  much  as  to  see  James 
crush  all  aristocratic  disorder,  and  make  himself 
master  of  his  kingdom.  Her  exhortations  to  him  on 
this  subject  are  full  of  wisdom,  and  expressed  in 
most  stirring  language.  But  they  only  produced 
petitions  for  money.  Notwithstanding  her  own 
diflSculties,  she  long  allowed  him  £3000  a  year, 
which,  in  1600,  was  increased  to  £6000.  But  ten 
times  that  amount  would  have  done  him  no  good, 
because  he  would  immediately  have  squandered  it. 


^92  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

As  Elizabeth  grew  old,  James  naturally  became 
absorbed  in  the  prospect  of  his  succession  to  the 
English  crown.  All  Scotchmen  shared  his  eager- 
ness. In  England,  feeling  was  almost  unanimous  in 
his  favor,  though  some  of  the  Catholics  continued 
to  talk  of  the  Infanta  or  Arabella  Stuart  the  niece 
of  Darnley.  By  teasing  Elizabeth  to  recognize  his 
title,  intriguing  with  her  courtiers,  and  calling  on 
his  own  subjects  to  furnish  him  with  the  means  of 
asserting  his  rights,  James  irritated  the  English 
Queen.  But  she  had  always  intended  that  he  should 
succeed  her,  and  she  did  nothing  to  prejudice  his 
claim. 

The  two  leading  men  at  the  English  court — Cecil 
and  Kaleigh — who  had  been  united  in  their  hostility 
to  Essex,  were  now  secretly  competing  for  the  favor 
of  James.  Each  warned  the  Scottish  King  against 
the  other,  and  represented  himself  as  the  only  trust- 
worthy adviser.  Cecil,  from  his  confidential  rela- 
tions with  the  Queen,  had  the  most  difficult  game 
to  play,  and  it  was  not  till  her  health  was  evidently 
failing  that  he  ventured  to  open  private  communica- 
tions with  James.  Even  then  he  did  not  dare  to 
correspond  with  him  directly,  but  it  was  understood 
that  everything  written  by  Lord  Henry  Howard 
(brother  of  the  last  Duke  of  Norfolk)  was  to  be 
taken  as  written  by  Cecil.     To  make  up  for  his  pre- 


LAST  YEARS  AND  DEATH :  1601-1603.  293 

vious  backwardness,  he  lent  James  £10,000 — a  pledge 
of  fidelity  which  it  was  out  of  his  rival's  power  to 
emulate. 

The  long  career  of  Elizabeth  was  now  drawing  to 
its  close.  Her  sun  might  seem  to  be  going  down  in 
calm  splendor.  She  had  triumphed  over  all  her 
enemies.     She  might  say  with  Yirgil's  heroine — 

"  Vixi,  et  quem  dederat  cursum  fortuna,  peregi ; 
Et  nunc  magna  mei  sub  terias  ibit  imago."  * 

The  mighty  Philip  had  gone  to  his  grave  five  years 
before  her  (1598)  a  beaten  man,  having  failed  in 
Holland,  failed  in  France,  failed  against  England. 
Of  the  three  great  champions  who  withstood  him, 
Elizabeth,  if  not  the  most  distinguished  by  high  quali- 
ties, had  yet,  perhaps,  the  largest  share  in  saving 
Europe  from  the  retrograde  tyranny  which  menaced 
it.  The  glorious  resistance  of  William  of  Orange 
covered  only  sixteen  years  (1668-84).  That  of  Henry 
lY.  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  had  any  European  im- 
portance before  his  accession  to  the  French  throne, 
from  which  date  to  the  peace  of  Yervins  and  the 
death  of  Philip  is  a  period  of  nine  years  (1689-98). 
But  the  whole  of  Elizabeth's  long  reign  was  spent  in 

*  ^neid.  Bk.  IV.,  lines  653-4.  Dido  about  to  commit 
suicide,  in  the  presence  of  her  nurse  soliloquizes.  A  free 
translation  is  as  follows  : — "  My  life  is  closed,  and  I  have 
lived  out  the  course  that  fate  has  given  ;  and  now  my  noble 
soul  shall  go  to  the  lower  world." 


A 


294  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

abating  the  power  of  Spain.  It  was  the  persist- 
ent, never-relaxing  pressure  from  an  unassailable 
enemy  which  wore  out  Philip,  as  it  afterwards  wore 
out  Bonaparte.  Elizabeth  had  found  England  weak 
and  distracted  :  she  was  leaving  it  united  and  power- 
ful. IS^or  was  she  of  those  to  whom  their  due  meed 
of  praise  is  denied  during  life,  and  accorded  only  by 
the  tardy  justice  of  posterity.  Her  wisdom  and 
courage  were  the  admiration  not  of  her  own  people 
alone,  but  of  all  Europe.  "  Her  very  enemies,"  says 
a  French  historian,  "  proclaimed  her  the  most  glo- 
rious and  fortunate  of  all  women  who  ever  wore  a 
crown."  From  the  point  of  view  of  public  life, 
little  or  nothing  was  wanting — so  Bacon  thought — 
to  fill  up  the  full  measure  of  h  er  felicity. 

Yet  it  seems  that  the  last  months  of  her  life  were 
clouded  by  melancholy,  and  deformed  by  a  queru- 
lous ill-temper.  Some  have  suggested  that  she  suf- 
fered from  remorse  for  her  severity  to  Essex ;  others 
that  she  felt  herself  out  of  sympathy  with  the 
Puritan  tendencies  of  the  time.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  resort  to  these  unfounded  or  far-fetched  sup- 
positions to  account  for  her  gloom.  If  we  turn 
from  her  public  to  her  private  life,  what  situation 
could  be  more  profoundly  pitiable?  Honor  and 
obedience,  indeed,  still  surrounded  her.  But  that 
which  also  should  accompany  old  age,  love  and 


LAST  YEARS  AND  DEATH  :  1601-1603.  295 

troops  of  friends,  she  might  not  look  to  have.  Near 
relations  she  had  none.  Alone  she  had  chosen  to 
live,  and  alone  she  must  die.  As  her  time  approached, 
she  was  haunted  by  the  consciousness  that,  among  all 
those  who  treated  her  with  so  much  reverence,  there 
was  not  one  who  had  any  reason  to  be  attached  to 
her  or  to  care  that  her  life  should  be  prolonged. 
Those  who  have  not  loved  when  they  were  young 
must  not  expect  to  find  love  when  they  are  old. 
While  health  and  strength  remained,  she  had  tasted 
the  satisfaction  of  living  her  own  life  and  playing 
the  great  game  of  politics,  for  which  she  was  excep- 
tionally gifted.  But  to  a  woman  who  has  passed 
through  life  without  knowing  what  it  is  to  love  or 
be  loved,  who  has  no  memory  of  even  an  unrequited 
affection  to  feed  on,  who  has  never  shared  a  hus- 
band's joys  and  sorrows,  never  borne  the  sweet 
burden  of  maternity,  never  suckled  babe  or  rocked 
cradle,  who  must  finish  her  journey  alone,  sitting 
in  the  solemn  twilight  before  the  last  dark  hour 
uncared  for  and  uncaring,  without  the  cheer  of 
children  or  the  varied  interests  that  gather  round 
the  family — to  such  a  one,  what  avails  it  that  she 
has  tasted  the  excitement  of  public  life,  that  she  has 
borne  a  share  in  politics  or  business — what  even 
that  her  aims  have  been  high  or  that  she  has  done 
the  State  some  service,  if  she  has  renounced  the 


QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

crown  of  womanhood,  and  turned  from  their  ap- 
pointed use  those  numbered  years  within  which  the 
female  heart  can  find  present  joy  and  lay  up  store 
of  calm  satisfaction  for  declining  age  ? 

Elizabeth  had  always  enjoyed  good  health,  thanks 
to  her  "  exact  temperance  both  as  to  wine  and  diet, 
which,  she  used  to  say,  was  the  noblest  part  of 
physic,"  and  her  active  habits.  In  capacity  for  re- 
sisting bodily  fatigue  and  freedom  from  nervous 
ailments,  she  was  like  a  man.  It  was  not  till  the 
beginning  of  1602  that  those  about  her  noticed  any 
signs  of  failing  strength.  She  still  went  on  hunting 
and  dancing.  In  dancing  she  excelled,  and  she  kept 
it  up  for  exercise,  as  many  an  old  man  keeps  up  his 
skating  or  tennis  without  being  exposed  to  ill- 
natured  remarks.  In  December,  1602,  her  godson 
Harington,  an  amusing  person,  whose  company  she 
enjoyed,  found  her  "  in  most  pitiable  state,"  both  in 
body  and  mind.  "  She  held  in  her  hand  a  golden 
cup  which  she  often  put  to  her  lips ;  but  in  sooth 
her  heart  seemeth  too  full  to  lack  more  filling." 
He  read  her  some  verses  he  had  written,  "  whereat 
she  smiled  once,"  but  said,  "  When  thou  dost  feel 
creeping  Time  at  thy  gate,  these  fooleries  will  please 
thee  less.  I  am  past  my  relish  for  such  matters. 
Thou  seest  my  bodily  meat  doth  not  suit  me  well. 
I  have  eaten  but  one  ill-tasted  cake  since  yester- 


LAST  YEARS  AND  DEATH ;  1601-1603.  29Y 

night."  Harington  hastened  to  send  a  present  to 
the  King  of  Scots,  with  the  inscription,  ^' Domine 
memento  m.ei  cum  veneris  in  regnumy  * 

In  the  same  month  Eobert  Carey,  son  of  her 
cousin  Lord  Hunsdon,  visited  her,  and  professed  to 
think  her  looking  well.  "  ISTo,  Robin,"  she  said,  "  I 
am  not  well,"  and  then  "  discoursed  of  her  indispo- 
sition, and  that  her  heart  had  been  sad  and  heavy 
for  ten  or  twelve  days,  and  in  her  discourse  she 
fetched  not  so  few  as  forty  or  fifty  great  sighs.  .  .  . 
Hereupon  I  wrote  to  the  King  of  Scots."  f  Her 
melancholy  was  not  caused  by  any  weakening  of  her 
mind.  A  long  letter  to  James,  dated  January  5, 
1603,  though  hardly  legible,  is  very  vigorous  and 
characteristic. 

At  the  beginning  of  March,  1603,  she  became  much 
worse.  There  was  some  disease  of  the  throat,  at- 
tended with  swelling  and  a  distressing  formation  of 
phlegm,  which  made  speaking  difl&cult.     The  only 

*  Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom. 

f  Elizabeth  made  large  use  of  the  courage  and  fidelity  of 
her  kinsmen  on  the  Boleyn  side,  but  she  did  little  to  advance 
them  either  in  rank  or  wealth.  Hunsdon  had  set  his  heart  on 
regaining  the  Boleyn  Earldom  of  Wiltshire.  When  he  was 
dying,  Elizabeth  brought  the  patent  and  robes  of  an  earl,  and 
laid  them  on  his  bed ;  but  the  choleric  old  man  replied, 
"Madam,  seeing  you  counted  me  not  worthy  of  this  honor 
while  I  was  living,  I  count  myself  unworthy  of  it  now  I  am 
dying." 


QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

relatives  about  her  were  Kobert  Carey  and  his  sister 
Lady  Scrope,  watching  keenly  that  they  might  be 
the  first  to  inform  James  of  her  death.  She  could 
not  be  brought  by  any  of  her  Council  to  take  food 
or  go  to  bed.  When  in  bed  she  had  been  troubled 
by  a  visual  illusion ;  "  she  saw  her  body  exceedingly 
lean  and  fearful  in  a  light  of  fire."  At  last  Notting- 
ham the  Admiral,  who  was  mourning  the  recent  death 
of  his  wife,  was  sent  for.  He  was  a  second  cousin 
of  Anne  Boleyn,  and  was  the  one  person  to  whom 
the  dying  Queen  seemed  to  cling  with  some  trust. 
He  induced  her  to  take  some  broth.  "  For  any  of 
the  rest,"  says  her  maid-of-honor.  Mistress  South- 
well, "  she  would  not  answer  them  to  any  question, 
but  said  softly  to  my  Lord  Admiral's  earnest  per- 
suasions that  if  he  knew  what  she  had  seen  in  her 
bed  he  would  not  persuade  her  as  he  did.  And 
Secretary  Cecil,  overhearing  her,  asked  if  her  Majesty 
had  seen  any  spirits ;  to  which  she  said  she  scorned 
to  answer  him  so  idle  a  question.  Then  he  told  her 
how,  to  content  the  people,  her  Majesty  must  go  to 
bed.  To  which  she  smiled,  wonderfully  contemning 
him,  saying  that  the  word  must  was  not  to  be  used 
to  princes ;  and  thereupon  said,  '  Little  man,  little 
man,  if  your  father  had  lived  ye  [he  ?]  durst  not  have 
said  so  much :  but  thou  knowest  I  must  die,  and 
that  maketh  thee  so  presumptuous.'    And  presently 


LAST  YEARS  AND  DEATH :  1601-1603.  299 

commanding  him  and  the  rest  to  depart  her  chamber, 
willed  my  Lord  Admiral  to  stay  ;  to  whom  she  shook 
her  head,  and  with  a  pitiful  voice  said,  *  My  Lord, 
I  am  tied  with  a  chain  of  iron  about  my  neck.'  He 
alleging  her  wonted  courage  to  her,  she  replied,  '  I 
am  tied,  and  the  case  is  altered  with  me.'  "  At  last, 
"  what  by  fair  means,"  says  Carey,  "  what  by  force, 
he  got  her  to  bed." 

It  was  perfectly  understood  that  she  meant  James 
to  be  her  successor.  The  Admiral  now  told  his  col- 
leagues that  she  had  confided  her  intention  to  him 
just  before  her  illness  took  a  serious  turn.  Two 
years  before,  in  conversation  with  Kosni,  the 
minister  of  Henry  TV.,  she  had  spoken  of  the  ap- 
proaching union  of  the  Scotch  and  English  crowns  as 
a  matter  of  course.  But  it  was  not  till  a  few  hours 
before  her  death  that  her  councillors  ventured  to 
question  her  on  the  subject.  They  gave  out  that  she 
indicated  James  by  a  sign ;  and  this  is  also  asserted 
by  Carey,  who,  however,  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  present,  though  probably  his  sister  was. 
Mistress  Southwell  seems  to  write  as  an  eye-witness, 
but  betrays  a  Catholic  bias,  which  may  cast  some 
doubt  on  her  testimony.  "  The  Council  sent  to  her 
the  Bishop  of  Canterbury  and  other  of  the  prelates, 
upon  sight  of  whom  she  was  much  offended,  chol- 
ericly  rating  them,  bidding  them  be  packing,  saying 


300  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

she  was  no  atlieist,  but  knew  full  well  they  were 
hedge-priests,  and  took  it  for  an  indignity  that  they 
should  speak  to  her.  'Now  being  given  over  by  all, 
and  at  the  last  gasp,  keeping  still  her  sense  in  every- 
thing and  giving  ever  when  she  spoke  apt  answers, 
though  she  spake  very  seldom,  having  then  a  sore 
throatj  she  desired  to  wash  it,  that  she  might  answer 
more  freely  to  what  the  Council  demanded ;  which 
was  to  know  whom  she  would  have  king  ;  but  they, 
seeing  her  throat  troubled  her  so  much,  desired  her 
to  hold  up  her  finger  when  they  named  whom  liked 
her.  Whereupon  they  named  the  king  of  France, 
the  king  of  Scotland,  at  which  she  never  stirred. 
They  named  my  lord  Beauchamp,^  whereto  she 
said, '  I  will  have  no  rascal's  son  in  my  seat,  but  one 
worthy  to  be  a  king.'  Hereupon  instantly  she  died." 
(March  23,  afternoon.) 

It  is  certain,  however,  that  she  lived  several  hours 
after  this  characteristic  outburst.  Carey  says  that 
at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening  he  went  into  her  room 
with  the  Archbishop ;  that,  though  speechless,  she 
showed  by  signs  that  she  followed  his  prayers,  and 
twice  desired  him  to  remain  when  he  was  going 
away.  She  died  in  the  early  hours  of  Thursday, 
March  24. 

*  Son  of  Catherine  Gray  by  the  Earl  of  Hartford.  "Ras- 
cal "  at  that  time  meant  a  person  of  low  birth. 


LAST  YEARS  AND  DEATH :  1601-1603.  301 

There  have  been  many  greater  statesmen  than 
Elizabeth.  She  was  far  from  being  an  admirable 
type  of  womanhood.  She  does  not,  in  my  opinion, 
stand  first  even  among  female  sovereigns,  for  I 
should  put  that  able  ruler  and  perfect  woman,  Isa- 
bella of  Castile,  above  her.  I  admit,  however,  that 
such  comparisons  are  apt  to  be  unjust.  Few  rulers 
have  had  to  contend  with  such  formidable  and  com- 
plicated difficulties  as  the  English  Queen.  Eew  have 
surmounted  them  so  triumphantly.  This  is  the 
criterion,  and  the  sufficient  criterion,  which  deter- 
mines the  judgment  of  practical  men.  Research,  if 
applied  with  fairness  and  common  sense,  may  per- 
haps modify,  it  can  never  set  aside,  the  popular 
verdict.  There  are  writers  who  have  made  the  dis- 
covery that  Elizabeth  was  a  very  poor  ruler,  selfish 
and  wayward,  shortsighted,  easily  duped,  faint- 
hearted, rash,  miserly,  wasteful,  and  swayed  by  the 
pettiest  impulses  of  vanity,  spite,  and  personal  in- 
clination. They  have  not  explained,  and  never  will, 
how  it  was  that  a  woman  with  all  these  disqualifica- 
tions for  government  should  have  ruled  England 
with  signal  success  for  forty-four  years.  Statesmen 
are  indebted  to  good  luck  occasionally,  like  other 
people.  But  when  this  explanation  is  offered  again 
and  again  with  dull  regularity,  we  are  compelled  to 
say,  with  one  who  had  at  once  the  best  opportunity 


302  QUEEN  ELIZABETH. 

and  the  highest  capacity  for  estimating  the  great- 
ness of  Elizabeth  :  "  It  is  not  to  closet  penmen  that 
we  are  to  look  for  guidance  in  such  a  case ;  for  men 
of  that  order  being  keen  in  style,  poor  in  judgment, 
and  partial  in  feeling,  are  no  faithful  witnesses  as  to 
the  real  passages  of  business.  It  is  for  ministers  and 
great  officers  to  judge  of  these  things,  and  those  who 
have  handled  the  helm  of  government  and  been 
acquainted  with  the  difficulties  and  mysteries  of 
State  business."  * 

The  judgment  of  those  who  have  handled  the 
helm  of  government  is  to  be  found  in  the  words  of 
her  contemporary,  the  great  Henry — "  She  was  my 
other  self : "  and  of  a  greater  still  in  the  next  genera- 
tion— "Queen  Elizabeth  of  famous  memory;  we 
need  not  be  ashamed  to  call  her  so ! "  f 

*  Bacon,  In  felicem  memoriam  Elizahefhce, 

t  Carlyle,  Letters  and  Speeches  of  Oliver  Cromwell,S]peech.Y, 


APPENDIX 


305 


APPENDIX   A. 

SESSIONS   OF   PARLIAMENT   IN   THE   REIGN   OF 
ELIZABETH. 


Year 

Parlia- 

of 

ment. 

Eliza- 
beth. 

Began, 

Prorogued. 

Dissolved, 

I. 

1st 

25  Jan.  155f 

8   May    1559 

II. 

5th 

12  Jan.  156| 

10  April  1563 

II.    ) 

8th 

) 

2nd    > 

and 

>  30  Sep.     1566 

30  Dec.   1566 

2   Jan.    156f 

Sess.  ) 

9th 

) 

III. 

13th 

2    April   1571 

29  May  1571 

IV. 

14th 

8    May     1572 

30  June  1572 

IV.  ) 

2nd  I 

18th 

8    Feb.     157| 

15  Ma,r.  157| 

Sis.   ) 

V. ) 

3rd   \ 

23rd 

16    Jan.  158^ 

18  Mar.  158f 

19  April  1583 

Sess.  ) 

27th 

) 

v.] 

and 
28th 
28th 

>23    Nov.  1584* 

29  Mar.  1585 

14  Sep.  1586 

VL  j 

and 
29th 

>  15     Oct.  1586* 

29  Oct.  1586 

23  Mar.  158f 

VII. 

31st 

4    Feb.  1584 

29  Mar.  1589 

VIII, 

35th 

19    Feb.  159f 

10  April  1593 

IX. 

39th 

24    Oct.   1597* 

9  Feb.  159| 

X. 

43rd 

27    Oct.   1601 

19  Dec.  1601 

*  Adjourned  over  Christmas  Vacation. 


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